Teen titans: Judas Contract REDUX
by RainWander
Summary: ((ANIMATED MOVIE UNIVERSE)) When Raven tries to help Terra with her nightmares she sees everything and makes a decision to help. Opening herself up, Raven uses her own past pain to bond and form a real relationship with Terra. Together the two of them must overcome Deathstroke and Brother Blood's plot and save the team. Terrea, Raven/Tara
1. Ch1: Of a feather

When taking in someone else's pain, even if the contact only lasted seconds there were always the visions. Well, visions was a term that didn't quite fit what happened, at least not completely. Raven would see flashes of the person's past, but the biggest take away was the feeling. These 'visions' were always far more 'feel' than 'see', making the empath vividly experience that person's emotions and struggle as if she were them during said event. It was intense to say the very least and often left her with the desperate need to meditate just to shake it off.

The very same thing had happened when she attempted to assist Terra that night when the teen in question was having one of her nightmares. Raven didn't usually get involved, opting to casually observe. After all, the others were far better at being openly caring than she was and Raven was acutely aware that Terra thought she was creepy.

This night, enough had been enough. No one else had managed to make any real progress with Terra and watching her suffer had become too hard for Raven to bear anymore. She was an empath after all.

Unfortunately, Terra hadn't taken to kindly to being helped, shooing them all away. Just as well, Raven needed to sort out everything buzzing around in her mind. It was like ghosts of Terra's past but a jumbled mess of fear, panic, sorrow, and disbelief.

Damian, as usual, took things far too professionally. But if what Raven had seen was correct. Then his concern was warranted and she was going to need to make some hard choices.

"What did you see?" Damian commanded as if Raven had done some kind of wrong.

"Nothing and even if I did, it wouldn't be any of your business." She was just as sharp as he was demanding. A knife to the hardness of his tone.

"Everything that goes on in the tower is my business. Just like it should be for all of you!" Damian spat.

"Last I checked, Kori was our leader. Not you." Raven didn't wait for him to respond, she turned on heel and left Damian to stand there and pout.

Finally, back in the calm darkness of her own room, Raven sighed and took a moment to simply breathe.

No one else had been inside of Raven's room and there were good reasons for that. The room was decorated like something from a fantasy novel. The huge space gave the Titan a lot to work with but the wide windows that made up an entire wall of the room were a bit of a problem. Thankfully there were automatic shutters and Raven could control them herself.

The glass of the window was covered in sigils, similar in nature to the others scattered throughout the room. Thankfully dry erase markers made removing, altering and adding sigils very easy and Raven was thankful that this way she wouldn't have to feel guilty about potential damage to the window.

The room was divided by two wide bookshelves that ran from ceiling to floor and sectioned off a quarter of the room to create a small makeshift workshop sort of nook. The bookshelves themselves were lined adjacent to the door making the nook invisible to anyone who might look in from her doorway.

On the other side of the door, on the left just as one walks in was a large wooden desk nearly completely covered in various items.

A thick, worn book sat, pages still open and marked with a feather tied to what looked like a singed stick of some kind. Candles were scattered all over the desk and room, some melted from previous use, others untouched entirely. Various other items spread across the dark wooden desk like a few smaller books, charms, small locked boxes, jars, writing utensils, small tools, crystals, stones, mirrors, photos, containers of incense and more nearly covered the entire surface of the desk.

Raven crossed the room, loosening the fastening of her cloak she pulled it off entirely and proceeded to give it a half-assed toss. It managed to land onto the top of her plain black dresser, knocking over a candle before falling off. A sigh, a few small soft steps, and the empath bent to nonchalantly pick up the dark fabric... The candle went ignored.

Raven gave it one more toss, this time onto her perfectly made bed. This time it didn't slide off and briefly she thought about how her possessions had spent more time laying on that bed then she ever had, but if Raven were to get rid of it then the others would surely find out and worry about her well being. Raven turned her attention away, in the end, she would keep it. After all, her sleeping habits were improving slowly.

Fetching her favorite incense from her desk, a holder and a lighter, Raven quickly set herself up to comfortably meditate. Soon the empath would be able to properly arrange the disturbing image in her mind and understand what she had actually seen within Terra's.

Terra had been struggling to fall back asleep since the entire nightmare affair. It had been bad enough dreaming about her trauma but then to wake up to all the Titans in her room fretting over her like she was some kind of...wounded animal.

She groaned and rolled over, curling up tighter with a weak attempt at cocooning herself inside of her comforter. It didn't help Terra feel any better, leaving her to fight the temptation to call out to Slade. He would only repeat himself; "Just a little longer." "Soon we'll be together love." She sighed, hating the wait.

It was another hour and a half before the sweet peace of sleep finally found her but Terra slept lightly, worried her past might find her again.

Raven's eyes opened and she drifted back down to the floor as if the weight of what she was now certain of was too great a weight for her to levitate any longer.

It was hard to be completely sure of the identities of all of a great many people who had started a witch hunt on Terra but watching-feeling Terra being tortured and tormented as such a young and good girl was nearly unbearable. This was one of the few moments Raven was even remotely grateful for the horrors she had been exposed to when Trigun had forced her to live in hell with him. It was hard for most of the things that happened on earth that would disturb most, to accomplish the same thing with her.

This though...it hit so incredibly close to home that it was hard for Raven to remain calm. Terra was a victim here as well after all. Being saved by Slade Wilson was only the start of his plan. The way he isolated her afterward, kept slowly suggesting that everyone was the enemy, everyone was against Terra and only he truly understood and cared for her. Slow, steady and persistent reprogramming was easy due to Terra's trauma. Her wounds were so fresh she couldn't see that they weren't being healed, they were being poisoned, infected.

All of this was far, far too much like her mother's story. Sure she had mocked, even sassed her mother for joining a cult but at a young age, Raven had been allowed to see into her mother's past as a way of warning her against following the same path. For all of her life, Raven had hyperfocused on anything and everything in her and her mother's past that involved Trigun, overlooking many things the empath was only now realizing.

Slade was using the very same technique's commonly used by cults to brainwash and recruit hundreds, sometimes thousands. The very same manipulative kind of suggestion that made perfectly normal people willing to commit mass suicide in just a few months time.

Her mother had been so afraid that she would fall victim to this same fate. Now Raven wasn't able to celebrate or feel grateful that she hadn't because she was watching it happen to someone else. Someone she cared about, someone who deserved better.

Sleep eluded Raven that night like it so often did. But this time, the quiet dark stretch of time was filled with planning and a little spell for good fortune in her future endeavors. After all, from what Raven knew of Terra, this wasn't going to be easy.

The next morning Starfire had the titans outside in the courtyard bright and early for combat training. As usual, Damian only really allowed Raven to stand close to him after an exchange of polite good mornings. Raven enjoyed the quiet sense of mutual respect she shared with Damian when he wasn't being the king of jerks.

The Titans stood by and watched as Kori quoted the warlords who had trained her for probably the millionth time since Raven had known her.

"Shall we dance?" Nightwing attempted to flirt only for Star to effectively whoop him in only a few seconds.

"Everyone pair off. Those not fighting watch and learn."

Seeing her chance, Raven approached Terra. The earth mover eyed her cautiously for a moment, but crossed her arms and focused on what was happening around them again. Clearly, she had no idea that Raven knew basically everything.

"Alright, Blue Beetle, Beast Boy, you're up."

Jaime smiled, his suit covering his face as he stepped into the large open space.

"Hope that bug of your's is ready to get smashed!" Beast Boy taunted, rolling his shoulders as he approached the other side of the opening.

"Go ahead and give it a try, grasshopper!"

"Begin!" Starfire's voice was a starting pistol and instantly the boys were upon each other.

Garfield morphed into a rino, stampeding towards Jaime. The bug chirped loudly and Jaime responded in kind by transforming his forearm into a blaster. The shots missed as Gar shifted into different animals, first a cheetah, then a bird, then a bat and more all to dodge while still making his way to Jaime.

Blue Beetle kept it up, the shots constantly missing. The bug chirped in frustration.

"I know I'm trying ok?"

Suddenly the bug's legs that curled over Jamie's shoulders sprung up and changed into canons, tracking Beast Boy's movements and blasting more precisely and automatically. Jaime laughed when he noted the difficulty Garfield seemed to be having with evasion now that the bug was assisting Jaime.

"Looks like the bug doesn't want to lose!" Jaime yelled.

"Too bad it's gonna!" Beast Boy roared as he shifted into a bear mid-air and plummeted down onto Jaime. Suddenly the bug chirped and the shoulder mounted blasters fired a full power shot. The light completely engulfed Garfield before he was sent flying and skidding across the ground.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! HE'S MY FRIEND!" Jaime yelled at the bug as he sprinted to check on Beast Boy. Starfire and Kori followed but only got a few steps.

"I'm good! I'm ok…" Garfield lifted his arm, as he rolled over and simply remained laying on the ground. Jaime bent over him.

"You sure?!"

"Yeah, I moooostly dodged. The fall hurt more honestly."

Jaime helped Garfield up and the two headed back to the group to watch the next pair square up.

"Raven, Terra. You're next." Kori commanded once the boys were out of the way.

Silently the two girls approached the clearing. It wasn't until Beastboy gave Terra a 'Whoop whoop!' of encouragement that either girl spoke.

"Ugh…hope you're ready over there Evanescence." Terra taunted, attempting to annoy Raven. Her response was a smirk and an equally sassy comeback.

"Evanescence? Really? Come on Terra you can do better than baby's first alternative rock band turned meme."

Terra smirked back, her hands glowing as she summoned up her powers, Raven also reading herself.

"Wow, so you can actually be kinda fun. Who would have thought Nightwish here could make jokes!"

The earth below Terra ripped itself free, her stance wide and low Terra began to levitate toward Raven, picking up speed as she went.

"Nightwish! That's more like it. Very clever. More obscure." Raven's reply was accompanied by a blast of magic towards Terra.

The first blast of energy behaved much like a regular energy blast similar to something Jaime could fire off but when Terra tilted her airborne stone platform to dodge the magical energy bent and nearly struck her. Terra cried out in surprise and veered wildly to the left to avoid being hit only to notice a wall of magic being raised right in front of her. With only seconds to react, she clenched her fists and focused, the large stone she was on breaking into slices and splitting to form vertical platforms along the wall of magic Raven had sent at her. Terra was banking on her momentum allowing her to run along the platforms but her timing was too frantic and she instead stumbled and sprinted along them. The magic wall sending the stone slabs flying right as her foot left them.

With already very loose footing it was no surprise when Terra's grasp on the vertical sprint became too unsteady and she slipped off of the second to the last slab.

The blond only free fell for a few seconds before she turned her body mid-air, flinging her arms out and grunting all in Raven's direction, sending stones of various sizes flying wildly in the empath's general direction.

Raven frantically sent up a barrier, the stones smashing into it with such speed and force that they were instantly obliterated, creating a massive dust cloud.

When the rocks seemed to stop coming Raven stayed on guard, barrier still up as she closed her eyes. She scanned the area mentally and picked up Terra's emotional response just quick enough to spin around and kick a stone away only to have another slam into her stomach. The wind knocked clean out of her, Raven managed to avoid becoming prone by ascending into the air and flying at Terra from inside the dust cloud.

"Can't feel my vibrations if I'm not on the ground can you?" Raven taunted, her tone only a little more playful than when she teased Beastboy. Her answer was a rock pillar shooting up about a foot from her left.

Raven purposely smashed it and used her powers to keep the dust from traveling too far from them to keep Terra blind.

"You're right I can't. But this dust is all basically earth so…"

Raven quickly sent a wave of magical energy out, blasting all of the dust straight in the direction she could feel Terra.

"Ugh!" Terra's hands shot up to her ears, her eyes shutting tightly. The dust had definitely damaged the camera in her eye and the magical energy had blown out her listening device. All according to Raven's plan. What wasn't according to Raven's plan was when Terra blindly started to send boulders flying in Raven's direction. The empath narrowly avoided them, distracted by her concern that she might have actually hurt Terra.

"Terra! I didn't mean to hurt you! Let me make sure you're ok!"

"Shut up!" Terra yelled, still sending stones flying at Raven. The other Titans were starting to call out to her now as well but she didn't seem to care.

Things didn't seem to stop until a boulder managed to slam into Raven, sending her flying with a loud cry and a thud. Starfire was the first to reach Terra, a firm yet gentle hand upon the girl's shoulder.

"Terra please!" Kori pleaded, soon joined by Beastboy while Dick and Damian sprinted over to check on Raven.

"Terra!" The addition of Garfield's voice snapped Terra out of the fight or flight mode she had gotten stuck in. Confused and with her eyes itching Terra rubbed at them while trying to shrug Kori off.

"Wh-What... what's going on?"

Damian opened his mouth, Nightwing stopping him before he started while he tried to shove the boulder out of the way.

"Give her...ughh...some air." Nightwing only struggled with the boulder for a few more seconds before it was covered in an inky blackness and shoved in a different direction then he was pushing. Raven groaned and struggled to stand, earning her some help from Nightwing.

Terra looked on, a mixture of guilt and fear swirling inside of her.

Raven was roughed up but otherwise relatively unharmed. Being half demon had its advantages.

"I'm ok. Tired mostly." Raven spoke smoothly but softly. Terra stared trying to think of something to say as Raven approached her with Dick's help.

"I-I didn't mean…"

"I know. That was a lot of dust. How are your eyes?"

"Wh-What the hell? I just almost crushed you and you're asking how I am?"

Before Raven could respond Kori and Dick chimed in.

"It's ok. Raven's alright."

"Yes. We'll call today's training over for today. If your eyes are still bothering you, Terra, you should go wash them out."

Terra groaned and turned suddenly, storming off.

"Ugh! Get off me. What wrong with all of you?!"

Raven watched her walk away knowing that she needed to give Terra some time to cool off but that there was also no time to lose.

Terra had honestly expected Beastboy to come and bother her almost right after she had washed up after training. She had even gone to grab a snack to take back to her room and see him in the common room but he only smiled and waved. It was a nice surprise and Terra was enjoying some alone time after eating when a knock sounded from her door.

She sighed softly and rolled her eyes while she peeled herself off of her bed and strolled to the door in a cozie hoodie.

"Listen Green bean I reall-oh." She started, cutting herself off when she saw that it was Raven at her door and the rather trendy change of clothes only added to her surprise. It wasn't often that she saw Raven in ripped up, black skinny jeans and a black band tee with the sides completely cut off exposing her dark blue crop top underneath.

"Wow. Wednesday Addams has a fashion sense." Terra teased.

"Yeah, not something that was easy to grasp for someone who was born on a different plane of existence and spent most of their late childhood to early teen years in actual hell. But you know...I like looking nice sometimes."

Terra's eyebrow rose as her arms crossed but she said nothing. Raven's expression hardened ever so slightly before she spoke again.

"Look I know I can be hard to get close to. We have that in common I think. But I came here because I need to talk to you about something important... privately." Raven's tone was flat but not as calm as it usually sounded.

Terra considered what Raven had said for a moment, expression hard before she shrugged a little and stepped aside.

"Come in." Her voice was more curious now, less on guard.

Raven stepped inside and Terra closed her door, even locking it before she joined Raven closer to the center of the space.

Now that Raven was actually here, actually about to confront Terra she was second-guessing herself. Even superheroes get nervous.

A small breath, to steady, to calm.

"I don't want to make you panic but I'll get right to it. I know about your connection to Deathstroke and I intentionally damaged the camera and listening device you had during our training."

Terra tensed the second the words left Raven's mouth. Her entire body burned with cold anxiety as she tried not to panic but ultimately failed. She was in a battle ready stance instantly.

"So you came here to finish the job huh?! Well, it won't be easy to take me out I-"

Raven put her hands out in front of her.

"Terra calm down! I'm not here to kill you or anything like that! No one else knows but I did tell Damian that if he doesn't see me at dinner tonight to go to my room and find a letter I wrote explaining everything I know to him."

"S-so what the hell do you want then?! Blackmail or something?!"

"To help you."

"What?!"

Raven took a tentative step forward, hands out in clear view. Terra tensed a little but seemed less panicked now.

"I saw your past. What your village did to you…"

Breaking out in a cold sweat, all of Terra's furry was knocked out of her as she struggled to not remember.

"I saw how he saved you…"

Her breath caught and her stomach dropped.

"And I saw how he kept you alone, fed you all the sweet lines you needed to hear. Told you that everyone else was against you, no one but Slade would ever understand you...love you…"

The more Raven spoke the more awful Terra felt and when she finally spoke her voice was tiny and fragile.

"H-how…?"

"When I tried to help you with your nightmares.

When I heal someone I'm actually taking their pain into myself. That's why when I do it to someone who's badly injured I pass out. I feel everything they feel so they don't have to suffer.

Usually, this comes with the added bonus of seeing and feeling parts of that person's past. I hate it but I can't control that part yet."

"So why not rat me out? Why not tell everyone and stop me?"

"Because you're not a criminal Terra. You're a victim in all of this and I want to help you."

Irritated, Terra tensed again, even raising her voice when she spoke next.

"I'm not a victim!"

"Terra I've seen this before. Everything Slade did, said...all of it."

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"Let me show you." Raven reached out before Terra could back away and the moment her finger touched Terra's forehead she was eased into visions from the perspective of a woman but whom it was remained a mystery.

This woman was in her home, being abused by her family, much like Terra, was saved by a mystery man just in time, just like Terra. The man took her in, kept her alone and promised her all the things she could ever want, teased her with them while also painting everyone else as her enemy.

Terra watched this mirror of her own experiences all the way up until the woman was being offered as a bride to a literal demon, a monster made flesh. It was only then that Raven pulled Terra out of the vision and the blond fell to her knees in tears. There was too much, all of this. She was completely overwhelmed.

"Who...who was she?" Terra whispered.

"My mother...that was how Trigun got to her…"

"That was a god damn cult, wasn't it? That was how a cult turned her into a follower…"

Raven said nothing, the air heavy with the implication. Terra pulled her knees up and cried freely, great heaving sobs to the point where Raven thought she might be sick.

Terra hardly even realized that Raven was still even there, let alone that she had teleported out of the room then back again. Terra didn't notice much of anything until a gentle hand touched her shoulder and she nearly jumped seven feet, head snapping up with her fight or flight instincts on full alert.

It was Raven, expression gentle, her hand still on Terra's shoulder and in the other, she held a cold water bottle.

"Drink."

Practically shut down, Terra sluggishly obeyed as if on autopilot. Raven remained quiet but close and supportive.

Eventually, Terra stopped crying and Raven helped her up, sitting her onto her bed, making sure she drank the entire bottle and one more for good measure. Terra's eyes were empty, distant and she seemed like she wasn't even present in her own skin.

It was nearly an hour and a half later when Raven felt Terra move without any instruction or guidance. Raven was sitting on the end of her bed, meditating while she waiting for Terra to come out of her shock knowing that it was best that way.

Terra sat up languidly, hardly ever remembering getting onto her bed let alone laying down. She did remember the vision, however, along with everything it made her realize. Ever so slowly, meekly, Terra moved toward the end of her bed. She sat next to Raven, knees up with her arms wrapped around them. She stared out at nothing, but this time she was present albeit with her head nearly bursting with everything she now knew.

Raven didn't speak at all. Silently she opened her eyes, glancing at Terra without turning her head before joining her in staring ahead at nothing.

"Your mom huh…?" Terra's voice was so small and strained Raven wondered if she was going to be ok.

"Yeah…"

The silence returned, spanning only a few minutes but feeling like years. Terra didn't move a muscle and neither did Raven for a long five minutes. Terra struggled to completely wrap her mind around everything while also trying to think of something to say. It wasn't until Raven slowly descended onto the bed, no longer floating a foot above it, when Terra took a breath and opened her mouth.

"I just... it's all the same...all of it. I don't want to believe that everything was a lie. But I'm not stupid...I know Slade Wilson is bad news, but I thought everyone else, hell the whole world was worse…I was willing to accept everything Slade did because he made the world seem worse. "

"I bet you never thought you'd fall for a manipulative murderer when you imagined your first relationship as a kid," Raven commented rather dryly, regretting the words the second they left her mouth.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"No. No, you're right…" Terra sighed and let her arms slip away from her legs, loosening up a little.

"If kid me could see what I've become...well she'd probably think the powers are cool as hell but…" she trailed off.

It was in this moment that Raven realized she wasn't very good at comforting others outside of using her powers. It was frustrating feeling like she was just awkwardly sitting here trying pathetically to help.

"I just... I feel so stupid. You think after everything I've been through I'd know the difference between good and evil!" Terra groaned loudly, annoyed with herself.

"I understand why you feel that way but you really shouldn't. There have been thousands of cults over the decades and millions fall for their tactics no matter how strong or intelligent.

At least you weren't far gone enough to not see the truth when confronted with it." Raven hoped she wasn't coming off as preachy.

"Yeah, now I need to figure out how to deal with it." Terra's eyes grew wide, a realization striking her suddenly.

"Oh man, how the hell am I going to tell the others?! What the fuck am I going to do about Slade!?"

"We can figure all of that out later. For now, it's important that you let yourself feel and hurt so that you can get it out of your system and start to heal."

"Wait 'we'?"

"The entire reason Slade was able to get in your head was because you were alone. I might not be the warmest person in the world but I can make sure you're never alone again…"

Despite everything, the confusion, hurt and betrayal she felt, Terra smiled a little.


	2. Ch2: Gathers no moss

When Terra woke that morning she lamented the rest she had lost to nightmares. Fortunately they weren't bad enough nightmares to start an earthquake. Raven had been by her window, still awake, meditating.

Honestly Terra had not expected Raven to stay with her all night. Sure she might have thought it was creepy when she learned of Raven's insomnia. But now the knowledge that she was watching over her actually made Terra feel better about everything that had happened. It also helped solidify what Raven had told her. Alone Terra probably would have internally agonized over this far more. But she wasn't alone.

"Morning." Raven greeted as she ended her meditation.

"Agh... what's so good about it?" Terra moaned as she threw her covers over herself. In her mind everything was awful and she didn't want to get out of bed.

"I never said it was good. Only 'morning'." Raven retorted with a small slight grin.

Terra stayed quiet for a second before surrendering.

"I guess you did only say 'morning'."

"As in mourning the sleep I never get." Raven quickly replied and Terra actually had to stifle a laugh. When Raven noticed the reaction she smiled a little.

"I should have known you'd enjoy darker humor." Raven said as she crossed the room. Terra gave up trying to stay in bed and sat up, throwing her legs over the side of the bed.

"Hey I'll take pretty much anything over Green Bean's puns. Dark jokes are way better."

Raven approached the door and Terra found herself tensing slightly, an awful hot anxiety rising up at the thought of being alone. Raven had made sure to tune herself to Terra's emotions ever since she found out the truth. This meant that Raven could pick up on Terra's anxiety the moment the blond felt it.

"I'm just going to go wash up and change. You have a few minutes to do the same before I come back." She offered an explanation to an unspoken question.

Terra avoided eye contact, but she felt a little better.

"Thanks...I don't really want to be alone right now. I took the broken coms device and camera out and they're in a small case in my drawer. I know he can't hear me but I'm afraid of hearing him... I'm so used to him being in my head you know?"

Raven nodded and pointed up at her own head.

"I can hear my father pretty much all the time. So yeah, I probably know better than most."

Terra looked up at Raven, as if she was only just remembering now that Trigun was sealed in the red gem on the empath's forehead.

"So I guess what I heard was true huh."

"Yes. It's the only way I can make sure he stays sealed."

"Well that fucking sucks. If you don't watch him literally all the time and put up with his crap then what?"

"He ends the world."

Terra sat stunned for a second at both the weight and honestly of Raven's response.

"Holy shit…" Terra muttered in disbelief. Raven didn't respond, choosing to stand and wait for a moment to see if Terra had anything more to say. When a few long silent minutes passed Raven left the room with a quiet, "I'll be back."

Alone with her thoughts now it wasn't hard for Terra to feel at least a little sorry for Raven. She had heard about Raven's interdimensional demonic father, that the Titans had helped the Justice League stop him before and that he was now trapped in the gem on her forehead but she never knew why or any details.

Now that she was trying to pull herself away from Slade, Terra just wanted every piece of him gone from her life. Trying to imagine the one responsible for most of your suffering as a permanent consciousness, watching and speaking to you...it was absolutely insane to Terra.

How was Raven able to stand it, let alone be happy despite it? How was Raven able to bear that constantly? Terra found herself lost in thought, trying to figure Raven out as if she were some puzzle.

Terra washed up and changed almost entirely on autopilot, until there was a knock at her door followed by a quiet, "It's me." Before Raven opened the door and stood in the doorway.

"Ok before we deal with any of my heavy crap I need breakfast and a tall mug of black coffee." Terra finished fixing her hair and turned to Raven.

"I know a place. My treat."

"What if-"

"Don't worry. I placed a ward on you."

"Ok?"

"A ward is a kind of protection spell that keeps something away. I can't keep him away entirely but I can make it very hard for him to find you while you're near the tower or me."

Terra brightened at this, approaching Raven with a smile of relief.

"Oh my god, then you can keep me safe! I don't need to worry about what will happen or how I might feel when I see him again."

"No. I can't keep him away entirely. I can't make it so you never see him again and trying to hide from him won't solve anything. He's got a lot of money riding on this and he doesn't strike me as the kind of man to let go of that without a fight."

Terra's heart sunk but she knew Raven was right. Annoyed she groaned and marched out of her room, leaving Raven to follow.

"Ugh. Breakfast. Black coffee."

Raven took the lead wordlessly.

The two girls made their way to a small coffee shop that Terra had never even heard of. The line was a bit annoying but once they were able to place their orders the girls were able to find a comfortable corner of the shop to sit.

Terra pulled her chair out after placing her breakfast sandwich and coffee down onto the table as her eyes flicked over to Raven's tea.

"Tea huh. Always thought of you as a black coffee kind of girl. That sugary garbage is a surprise too." Terra observed as she sat.

"life itself is bitter enough." Raven remarked flatly and with a completely serious expression as she picked up the absolute, diabetes inducing monstrosity that was her crapé.

The comment Raven had made coupled with the absurdity of watching a very underwhelmed, goth, half demon girl eating something that looked sugary enough to come out of a kid's cartoon made Terra nearly choke laughing.

Raven remained mostly unphased, only smiling a little at her friend's reaction.

When Terra regained her composure she started unwrapping her sandwich to eat as well. Things stayed quiet between the two for a long five minutes before Terra remembered something.

"Hey you said you had some kind of arrangement with Damian yesterday. If he didn't hear from you then I'd be screwed. You stayed with me all night…"

"Don't worry I sent him a text."

"You actually own a phone?"

"I almost never use it...but yeah."

The idea of Raven using any kind of technology clashed so hard in Terra's mind that she couldn't even picture it.

Raven finished eating first, waiting quietly with her tea while Terra sipped at the end of her coffee and crumpled the wrapper from her sandwich. She sighed and Raven tired to pick a place to start.

"If you need more time before we tell the others, I understand."

"Yeah I do...I guess you probably don't need to ask how I feel. You can sense it or whatever right?" Terra sighed.

Raven leaned forward on the table, her voice quieter when she spoke to Terra next, they were still in a public place after all.

"I can, but as cleché as it sounds, talking helps."

"What's the point? You already know everything."

"Sometimes it's more about venting. You're still going to need some time to process everything, confront him and get closure for any significant improvement though." Raven explained before finishing off her tea.

"You're starting to sound like a therapist or something."

"I'm only speaking from experience."

There it was again, a reminder that Raven had survived the unimaginable.

"What was it like?" Terra blurted out before realizing how terrible it was to pry into someone's past suffering like that.

Raven eyed Terra for a moment and the blond didn't know if she wanted to apologize or just stay quiet. Terra settled for the ladder.

"Imagine the worst place possible. Multiply it by a million and then give it several uniquely horrible layers. That's hell." Raven's tone strained slightly, her calm shell faltering for only a split second while she spoke.

"...Shit…" Was all Terra could manage for a response. Raven shrugged.

"When someone yells 'go to hell' at me, now I can say with honesty that I've already been." Raven's tone evened out again and Terra nearly sighed with relief. The last thing she needed was to piss off the only person willing to help enough to lose them.

"Hey...you wanna get outa here?"

Raven's response was only a curious raised brow. Terra stood, motioning for Raven to follow her outside and Raven did.

The bright, mostly clear day clashed with the claim dim lighting in the café making Terra have to squint for the first few moments that she was outside.

She walked silently, Raven alongside her quietly enjoying the the cool wind that kept the day mild. They walked aimlessly for a few blocks, Raven realizing that, despite how she had spoken earlier, Terra hadn't wanted to go anywhere in particular. She had merely wanted to leave the café before it had gotten too crowded.

"Thanks…" Terra said it so quietly that Raven wasn't sure if she had really even heard anything at all.

"You don't need to thank me."

"...For staying with me. As much as I like being alone I'm pretty sure that spending that first while alone would have been a really bad idea…"Terra turned, making eye contact before she added.

"And I know you like being alone, probably more than any of us."

"Yes and no. I'll admit solitude is easier for me and my social skills are sort of still developing. Technically, Kori's been here on earth longer than I have."

"You're talking about hell again?"

"Not just hell. I only came to earth a few years ago when I was 14." Raven explained, confusing Terra.

"Wait, how old are you now?"

"16 soon."

"Wait I saw your Mom's past! That was here. You're half human."

"Yes. But my mother gave birth to me on another plane of existence. A dimension of peace and magic called Azerath."

Terra's eyes grew wide in surprise. She had always assumed Raven had at least been born here. Before she could say anything else, Raven noticed the lack of people around them and opened a portal.

"Come on."

At this point Terra didn't really need an explanation. Raven had done more then enough to earn some blind trust by now.

Without a word Terra stepped through the portal, Raven right behind her.

Being someone who was very closely tethered to earth, the first thing Terra noticed was how different the ground under her feet felt. The vibrations, the minerals, everything felt completely different from Earth. The last thing Terra noticed before she was struck by the sights before her was the lack of life. It was strange to notice that the ground container no life. Normally there were bugs, worms, small burrowing mammals, something, always something. It was like growing up and spending your entire life without ever experiencing true, actual silence and then having it suddenly thrust upon you.

The dead, silent and empty ground made Terra feel wrong on a level she had never thought possible. But before the feeling could overwhelm her she was struck by the sites before her.

Rubble, and debris of what looked like a once stunning civilization lay all around her bathed in the cool blue light of the swirling galaxies overhead. It was hauntingly beautiful and Terra realized that for a moment she hadn't taken a breath.

"This was Azerath…" Raven's voice cut the horrible silence, bringing a warmth the Terra that she suddenly felt starved for.

"Wh...What the hell happened?" it was practically a whisper. There were no birds, no chirping crickets, absolutely nothing living at all.

"I was stupid enough to bring my father here…"

"He did this? What about the survivors?"

"I'm all that's left." Raven held her arms out, to emphasize her statement. Terra's eyes widened.

"So...this was your home...and your Dad shows up and just...nothing is left at all?"

Raven's answer was the quiet aversion of her gaze. Terra could hardly believe it.

"If you don't watch him. This is what happens to earth..."

"Yes…"

Just then the stone on her head flashed briefly, making Raven's expression twist into one of hate and disgust.

"What!?" Terra was instantly worried.

"Dad's laughing. Talking about how it feels when all of the lives in a world are smothered out by him…"

Terra opened her mouth to say something but Raven cut her off.

"That's not what upset me. He says that crap all the time.

What upsets me is when he talks about what he wants to do to my friends…"

Scowling, Terra took a step forward, pointed directly at the stone and yelled.

"Hey fuck you, asshat!"

Completely blindsided by this, Raven exploded into a fit of laughter, covering her mouth and stomach. Terra was so taken aback by the sudden and strange reaction that she took a step away.

"W-what the hell's so funny?"

Raven tried to collect herself, it took a few moments but she managed to calm to small giggles.

"No one has ever done anything like that ever and it was just so out of nowhere! He's so pissed off now, you're amazing!"

"Ha! Good! Fuck your Dad." But Terra lacked her previous passion, grinning instead. Raven's laugher was so rare and beautiful that it was hard to not smile back at least.

"So why did you bring me here?"

"I thought it might help if I opened up a little more."

"As much as I appreciate it, I think I wanna get the hell out of here now. This place feels wrong…"

With a nod, Raven opened a portal back and the pair headed back to the tower.

Home again. Home, that word had come so naturally to Terra now that she knew the truth. That this was her home, no matter what Deathstroke had tried to make her think.

Walking the halls of the tower with Raven, Terra sighed and was torn between trying not to think about Slade and trying to figure out how to take him down.

"Raven?" Her voice was quiet but the empath heard regardless.

"Yes?"

"I think I do need a little time alone. Just to think things over and only until tomorrow I think."

"Sure, on a few conditions. I want to dispose of the damaged camera and earpiece, I see you at all the usual scheduled combat practices and meeting, and I keep an eye on you with my powers."

Terra felt a little like she was being babied or something to that effect and for a moment her old habits kicked in and she got annoyed. However, nearly instantly Terra caught herself and took a breath. This was to help her, to protect her.

"Sure. No problem."

The two made their way to Terra's room where she handed the spy like devices to Raven. With a nod, Raven took her leave, making sure to train her powers on Terra but not to seem suspicious during the day's meetings and training.

The rest of the day went by without incident. Training, meeting and everything in-between went smoothly. Near the end of the day Raven quickly swung by Terra's room with a mug of tea for herself and a mug of hot cocoa for her friend. Grateful for the warm sweet comfort drink, Terra smiled and the two parted after a quick goodnight.

The next morning we met with very similar slight annoyance as the previous one. Terra opened her eyes at a time that was far too early for most due to another, but less aggressive nightmare. Unable to get back to sleep and a little rattled, Terra gave up and got dressed for the day.

It wasn't until later that morning that Raven decided to make her move. She had approached Kori and Dick last night in secret and now it was time.

A knock sounded from her door and Terra answered, not at all surprised that it was Raven. For a brief moment Terra realized that had she been bothered by Raven like this prior to learning the truth about Slade, Terra probably would have gotten very annoyed to say the least. Now Raven's presence was welcome and growing increasingly pleasant the more Terra got the know her.

"Hey." She greeted with a small smile.

"Hey. Emergency meeting in the common room in two minutes." Raven sounded flat and as smooth as usual.

A small panic sprung up in Terra, instantly she was worried that the others had found out about her arrangement with Deathstroke. Raven sensed this and spoke up.

"Don't worry. They don't know."

"Oh god, good."

"We should probably talk about how we're going to tell them soon. The longer we wait the worse and more complicated things will get."

"Yeah...later though…" Terra sighed and Raven nodded.

"I'll meet you in the common room then."

Terra nodded and Raven turned to leave, her cape fluttering ever-so-slightly when she turned.

Terra walked into the dark common room but before she could find the light switch the room exploded into view with shouts of "SURPRISE!"

Acting on reflex, Terra panicked and summoned up the concrete from the tower's floor to her defense.

"Whoa!" Beastboy yelled while Raven dashed forward. Damian nearly dropped the 'Congratulations' banner he was holding to throw batarangs but was stopped by Dick. Jaime flinched and Kori gasped in surprise, it was only Dick and Raven who didn't seem surprised.

"Terra, it's ok!" Raven stopped just a few feet from the earth mover and Terra almost instantly calmed at her voice.

"Wh-what is this?" She asked in confusion, lowering her guard.

Beastboy morphed into a small monkey and jumped on to Terra's shoulders.

"It's a party!" He exclaimed.

"Yes. It was Raven's idea to celebrate the one year anniversary of when you first joined us." Starfire added as she helped fix the banner to the wall.

"Congratulations Terra." Dick offered proudly followed by Damian saying the exact same thing but in a much more standoffish way.

Emotions welled up and Terra had to wipe away a few stray tears. She hadn't had anything close to a party in so long. It felt so normal, so genuinely nice that she was a little overwhelmed.

"N-no one's ever done anything like this for me before. Thank you...everybody." She glanced at Raven as if to say something more but before she could, Beastboy used his tail to hold up his phone and snap a selfie. Terra was actually smiling a genuine smile, small and almost timid. Raven couldn't help smiling back, after all it was rare to see the blond genuinely happy.

Music, dancing, games, pizza, cake and more selfies than anyone could count except for Garfield followed. The party was actually fun for even the most grumpy and usually more recluse of the Titans. Raven and even Damian joined in the dancing a games. Damian even loudly jokes about how much cake Raven was eating which somehow spiralled wildly out of control and turned into Jaime and Garfield trying to see who could eat the most pizza while blindfolded.

It was the most fun Terra could remember having in her life.

A small digital notification sounded from the computer room. Dick was the first to notice and he immediately left with Kori to check it. Damian was quick to follow and Raven noticed next. Making the choice not to follow, Raven instead shut off the music, which in turn got the attention of Terra, Beastboy and Jaime.

"Hey what gives Raven?" Jaime turned away from his cake.

"Yeah wha-" Beastboy started but was cut off by Terra.

"Wait do you guys hear that sound?"

Raven opened her mouth to explain just as Damian rushed back into the room.

"The computer with Blood's files found something!" He practically yelled.

Terra tensed slightly and Raven briefly made eye contact with her. Damian noticed but decided to bring it up later.

The computer had found a new lead. A private laboratory that was originally owned by a Doctor who was reported dead years ago publically, but whose body was never recovered was now being payed for by Brother Blood. Naturally the Titans needed to check out this laboratory considering their recent investigation of H.I.V.E. and Brother Blood's cult.

The Titans headed out for the laboratory, Starfire and Nightwing leading the team followed by Blue Beetle, Beastboy,Damian, Raven and Terra. Raven flew almost next to Terra but when she noticed Damian keeping a closer eye on the two of them then normal, she pulled ahead by a few feet.

They all managed to get inside without being detected. The room they snuck in from appeared to be some kind of large cargo area with massive steel shipping containers. The very limited light made it a little hard for Terra and Beastboy in his human form to see but there wasn't much need for concern as Starfire lead them.

With a brick wall at her back, Starfire leaned over to peek around it. In the next large and relatively empty room sat a personal workstation. A desk with a couple monitors and a computer, there stood a man typing. The same doctor that was suppose to be dead.

Beastboy morphed into a mouse and climbed on to Nightwing's shoulder to get a peek as well.

"Any idea what that Gizmo is?" He squeaked to Nightwing.

"Nothing good."

The doctor clicked on a few things and the computer started to delete everything he had been working on.

"He's deleting. I vote we stop that." Raven suggested, earning her a nod from Robin.

"Agreed." He brandished his sword.

"That makes three of us." Blue beetle's arm changed into a canon and the beetle chirped.

"Ok, four of us." He added and the Titans moved in.

A green energy blast struck the desk next to the doctor and he jumped in surprise, Starfire had fired a warning star bolt at him.

"Step away from the computer and you won't be hurt." She commanded. In response the doctor backed up a step and pressed an alarm button that was just behind him. Robin threw a batarang just as all the other titans sprung into action, hitting one of the automated weapons in the wall that had come to life. The doctor rushed to shove assorted papers and folders into a briefcase, then he pressed a small button on the computer tower that made it self destruct before he ran.

The Titans were more then busy with the small flying gun robots that functioned as the facility's security system. Nightwing took off, trying to keep track of the doctor with Beastboy close behind and two gun robots chasing them both. With a growl Beastboy took to the air for just long enough to get on top of them before he shifted into a bear and crushed them both with his weight under his huge paws.

Terra was struggling, with a good four or maybe five robots attacking her at once. She didn't have time to count. Stone slabs headed her call and rose up to form a shield as she tried to move. Getting pinned down would be very bad right now. Robin wasn't far and once he noticed Terra struggling just a little ways from him he jumped up and leaped from off of a tall, heavy metal shelf to launch himself through the air. While airborne, Robin twisted, throwing batarangs and destroying two of the robots. Terra jumped out of her cover and sent rocks at the remaining robots, destroying them by the time Robin landed on the ground.

Blue beetle was having much better luck. The beetle helped him fly around and maneuver around the robots like this was all a game, his arm blaster making quick work of the robots when ever he got off a clean shot. Blue beetle turned a second to late And knew that he didn't have time to evade or fire at the two robots nearly upon him. Thankfully Starfire exploded in, arm barring both into a wall, the explosions having no effect on her exposed tamaran skin at all.

Movement caught Starfire's eye, and she spun, catching the doctor running outside in the distance. She spun around and called out to Robin, who was the closest to the doctor at the moment.

"Follow him. I'll cover you." Starfire ordered and Robin took off after the doctor like a shot.

The doctor ran outside, clutching his briefcase as he frantically looked for a means of escape. Robin was hot on his tail, the skills Damian had developed as an assassin under his grandfather made tracking someone like this easy.

Back at the laboratory, Raven and Terra where on the defensive, both running into each other and then away from the robots. Terra managed to send a stone wall flying up out of the ground right behind them as the two took cover, Raven added a force field over the top.

"Robin's after the Doctor. Knowing him he probably has him in custody already." Raven's smooth calm tone was a stabilizer that Terra needed right now.

"Slade was the one giving the intel I collected to Blood. I never had direct contact with Brother Blood or his cult members." Terra yelled over the noise in response.

"And there's no way Brother Blood or this guy know about you?" Raven's concern was like a match lighting Terra's anxity.

"I-I don't know…" Terra reaponded just as Nightwing rushed in and destroyed two of the robots that had Terra and Raven pinned down. The two jumped over the stone wall and right back into the fight now that the odds had evened out slightly.

Blue beetle was being pushed back on a catwalk, blasting at the robots nearly non-stop.

"Jaime!" Beastboy warned from across the large room. Blue beetle turned just in time to get blasted by a group of robots that sent him flying with such force that he broke through the roof and landed outside on the street below.

"...ow…"

A few more robots rushed Blue beetle as he got to his feet.

"Oh you wanna play?" His shoulder cannons activated, blasting the last of the robots into dust.

The rest of the Titans met outside, convening around Blue beetle. The robots were all in ruin now.

"That's it? Lame." Terra exclaimed, hands on her hips but her heart wasn't really in it.

Robin approached the other Titans with the Doctor at sword point, hands up. Robin's sword rested comfortably against the man's neck.

"What do you want to ask him first?" Robin scowled. The doctor took a breath and looked at the Titans.

"For Brother Blood."

Before Robin could pull away the man dropped his briefcase, grabbed the back of Robin's sword and forced it into himself, ending his life while the Titans tried to stop him. They were too late and as the doctor's body lay bleeding in the street the Titans were frozen for a second.

"I didn't-!" Robin started, his voice full of panic, Nightwing placed a hand on his shoulder, strong and comforting.

"You didn't kill him Damian. It wasn't your fault."

Starfire bent to scoop up some of the file folders that had spilled from the briefcase. Pictures of the titans all taken in varying locations and settings but some so private it was as if the person taking them were in the room with each of them.

Terra narrowed her eyes and both she and Raven struggled not to react.

"Well that's a shame." Beastboy tried to joke and lighten the mood but went mostly ignored.

"Yes. I especially want to ask him about these…" Starfire muttered as she stared at the photos.

"Maybe...he was a fan?"

Back at the tower Starfire, Nightwing and Damian went over the evidence they had managed to collect while the others tried to go back to enjoying themselves. Unfortunately, they were having little success.

Raven gave up on the third slice of cake with a sigh of futility of it all.

"Nothing like laser spewing H.I.V.E. drones to take you out of the party mood."

Terra sat next to Raven, silent but looking annoyed.

"I'm beat, and I'm making lunch at the center tomorrow." Jaime complained as he too gave up on another piece of cake, putting the plate down on the tablet and walking off to go rest.

"In more exciting news, I've been invited to be on Kevin Smith's podcast at Metrocon tomorrow!" Garfield exclaimed excitedly.

Just then, Dick, Kori and Damian walked into the room, with Kori in the lead.

"Hold up, Starfire's got something to say." Dick grabbed the Titan's full attention as he leaned against the doorframe. For just a moment, Dick and Kori shared a silent look between each other before she continued.

"With what we discovered tonight, we all need to be extra vigilant and not take any chances."

"Are you kidding me? It's Kevin Smith!" Garfield exclaimed, rising from his seat in annoyance.

"I didn't say don't do what you have planned, but keep your eyes and com lines open at all times. I have a feeling that whatever Blood is planning, tonight is just a prelude."

Terra tensed, feeling a sickening anxious heat swelling inside of her. She was almost certain that soon things were going to come to ahead.


	3. Ch3: Murphy's law

Alone, sulking, sitting on the cold sand and tossing stones across the water was pretty much the opposite of how anyone should be spending their time after a party. Yet there Terra was, doing just that. The anxiety and guilt she felt regarding her involvement with Deathstroke and Brother Blood's plans kept weighing more and more heavily upon her shoulders after the others discovered that H.I.V.E. and by extension, Brother Blood, had extensive and detailed information on the Titans... because of her.

There was still so much to come, the climax to Slade's plans were rapidly approaching and very soon Terra was going to have to confront him and tell the other Titans the truth. Honestly, Terra felt like crying, but something about the idea of crying anymore made her feel weak and sick.

"You look like you could use some company…" Raven's voice pulled Terra from her reprieve and she turned her head to watch Raven approach and sit next to her.

"Sorry about the party…" Raven added.

"It's other stuff…" Terra didn't need to explain, Raven understood.

Both girls sat with their knees up, arms loosely wrapped around them. Terra continued to use her powers to toss stones, Raven quietly joined her. Black energy covered a nearby rock and it was launched across the water, sliding across the surface instead of actually skipping. The wake left behind it was slowly spreading evidence that Raven wasn't nearly as skilled with skipping stones as Terra was. This earned Raven a small smile from Terra and that was enough to make it worthwhile.

"You're beautiful when you smile. Happiness looks better on you…" Raven complimented. Terra glanced away, a little bashful.

"Thanks. 'Means more coming from you then Slade or Greenie."

"If you don't like Gar that way, you should tell him."

"He's just a jerk…" Terra shrugged.

"Harassment isn't something you should ever accept, even if it's unintentional." Raven's response was a little harder than normal, her tone a bit rougher. Terra considered her response for a second, making a small 'hmm' sound.

"What?" Raven inquired.

"Kori was right. You are interesting to talk to when you get past the kinda creepy exterior."

"Thanks. I guess that goes for you too, just with a mean girl exterior."

Terra frowned, and Raven instantly regretted her reply.

"Sorry. I didn't-"

"No, you're right. I've been kind of a bitch. Mostly to you. I judge a lot and based on basically nothing. I'm the last person who should be judging others."

"You're not perfect of course, no one is. But you're better than anyone too scared to realize their mistakes.

It's easy to let your pain turn you into a monster and define you. It's harder to own it and use it to make yourself stronger…"

"...a lot harder…" Terra quietly agreed.

The two sat there in silence for a few more minutes, simply staring out at the water before Terra sighed.

Raven shifted a little closer and now the two girls' sides were practically touching. Terra welcomed the warmth. It was something she didn't often have the chance to enjoy.

"Want to know a secret?" Raven's voice was soft, calm but quiet. Regardless of the low volume, the statement got Terra's attention.

"Shoot."

"Azarath was a world of pacifist monks. There, I was just something to be feared. So it's no surprise really but...the first time in my life where someone made physical contact with me and it wasn't to hurt me was when I met Kori and she took my hand."

Terra stared, in shock for a moment.

"You're serious?"

"Yes."

"Holy shit. So that's...like 14 years of people only touching you to hurt you?"

"Or not touching me at all...so...I'm sure you've noticed that I'm not very physical…"

"Well shit. I would be too. I can't even imagine how it must make you feel when someone just touches your arm or something." Terra sat back, her hands resting on her legs.

"The first time Gar put his hand on my shoulder, I punched him in the face." Raven admitted as if admitting to stealing a cookie and Terra laughed.

"Well if you're ok with it...we, well…you know what never mind…" Terra flushed a little.

"No, what?" Raven asked, curious. "Maybe...we could both improve on how we handle contact, with each other's help…?" Terra sounded almost nervous.

Tentatively, Terra's hand moved toward Raven's. The empath closed the distance, sheepishly taking Terra's hand. A small flush came to the blonde's cheeks at the small silent act of affection. It was just hand holding, something that was supposed to be a childish and practically meaningless gesture almost all of the time. But with Raven's secret in mind, her fingers interlocking with Terra's carried a greater meaning with it.

"Are you sure you're good?" Terra asked sheepishly.

"I'm more than good." Raven had a small shy smile on her face the moment their fingers entwined. That smile didn't last unfortunately, as Raven remembered the ticking clock.

"I know we're kind of having a moment here, but we still need to figure out what we're going to do.

Kori is right, it feels like things are leading up to something big." Raven's tone fell considerably when she spoke. It was honestly the last thing she wanted to bring up, but time was running out. Terra's mood fell instantly as well, she sighed and her gaze grew slightly distant while her brow creased.

"I'm almost ready to tell the others... I just need a little more time…" she turned to Raven, expression pleading but honest and Raven was a complete sucker for her puppy eyes.

"...Promise." She added.

"Ok...but we can't wait much longer."

The two sat alone on the beach, their company only each other, the breeze, and their worries. Their hands still entwined, both reluctant to let go.

No one could have ever foreseen the panic and dismay that was only a sleep away, especially when it had all started out so normal. Morning training, followed by everyone splitting up for what they had planned that day; but every single one of them was about to have their days completely destroyed.

Jaime was at the center making lunch on his own. A trapped chair pumped him full of enough electricity to short circuit his beetle and render him unconscious and defenseless.

Damian left the tower on his motorcycle to go on a run of the mil patrol. He crossed the bridge that connected the island and the tower, to the mainland and the city. Turning into a more rundown part of the city, the bike suddenly exploded. Some kind of remote bomb had been planted inside and he was sent flying across the pavement unconscious and limp.

Garfield showed up to Kevin Smith's podcast recording at a yet-to-open Metrocon. A button that seemed relatively harmless teased his curiosity and when pushed, tranquilizer darts subdued the changeling.

Kori had just gotten off the phone and was feeling a little down about her cooking skills. A knock at the apartment door pulled her from her self-pity and she answered the door to find a gift box that claimed to be from Dick. Once she took the box inside, it exploded when she tried to listen in an attempt to guess its contents.

The last Titan down, was Dick. On his way home, Dick rushed into the elevator only to have it skip his floor while accelerating to speeds most elevators are unable to reach. It stopped suddenly, and Dick only had a second to try the emergency hatch before he realized it was sealed and the elevator plummeted.

Raven and Terra were in the tower, sitting together outside in the large court yard. Raven was teaching Terra some meditation techniques to help with her control when she we suddenly struck by an awful sense of foreboding.

When Raven closed her eyes, her mind was instantly assaulted with visions. She saw the other Titans falling into darkness along with the shadows of two men. One was covered in and dripping blood and the other with only a single eye. The former reached for a sword on his back and Raven's eyes shot open with a gasp, glowing a bright purple as she screamed skyward, her mind trapped in this terrible vision.

"What the hell?!"

Startled out of her own attempt at meditation, Terra was instantly on alert despite her confusion. When she saw Raven, and realized she was screaming and stuck floating there, glowing, Terra took a risk. Without any hesitation she grabbed Raven's shoulders and gave her a shake.

"Raven!" She practically yelled, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

Quickly becoming a little afraid of what was happening and her own lack of understanding, Terra stayed kneeling there for a moment before she got an idea. Terra reached down and took both of Raven's hands in her own and squeezed firmly.

"Raven, please come back to us! We need you!" Her voice shook with her own emotion.

It was only then that the glowing and screaming stopped, and Raven snapped back into the here and now. Almost instantly she allowed herself a moment of vulnerability, by basically falling against Terra. She needed the warmth of another to help ground her even if it was only for a few moments while she caught her breath. Terra only hesitated a moment, before putting an arm around Raven's back.

"What the hell was that?!" Terra's voice shook a little, but she tried to sound strong.

"I need a second." Raven's response was muffled by Terra's shirt as she spoke, still half curled into the blonde. Terra nodded and without thinking her hand began gently rubbing up and down on Raven's back in a comforting manner. Raven flushed and took a breath before sitting up slowly and indirectly forcing Terra to let her go. Her cheeks were still a slight pink when she spoke, but Terra was too concerned to notice.

"The others are in danger. We're probably already too late." Raven said gravely, and Terra felt her heart sink.

"Slade?"

"And Blood."

"H-how do you know?"

"That was a vision. He's coming for me next. We need to do something. We need to save the others." Raven stood, a little unsteady. Terra reached out to help support her and Raven welcomed the help.

"Fuck. How?! It's just the two of us and he could just show up any second!"

Raven took a moment to breathe and think, re-centering her mind so she was back in control.

"I might have an idea but it's stupid and risky and I'm going to need to trust you more than I've pretty much ever been comfortable trusting anyone else before…" Raven admitted.

Terra took a deep breath to steel herself.

"Ok. What do you need me to do?"

"First, we change and face this like Titans."

Terra smiled, Raven smiled back tiredly and the two headed inside to suit up.

Adjusting her gloves, Terra sighed in an effort to calm her nerves. Raven had been right; the plan was risky and stupid. Part of Terra didn't even want to try it but as things stood they had no other option.

"I hate this…" She muttered as the two headed out of the tower. Raven had steeled herself, she walked right alongside Terra with her head high, shoulders square and not a single shred of even the slightest fear or apprehension. Her hood being up made her expression even harder to read giving her air of confidence and emotionlessness a greater weight.

"I trust you."

"You trust me waaaaaaay more than I trust myself." Terra sighed.

"Don't doubt yourself like that. Confronting Slade is going to be hard and this plan **is** really stupid but not because of you. You're the one part of this that I have confidence in." Raven confessed, and Terra felt her chest swell. Raven had so much faith in her; and it was based on just a few days of the only real bonding the two have had. It completely blew her mind, but it also served as the best motivation. Slade had claimed that he too had trusted her with something of great importance. Though, now that she had proper perspective on things, it wasn't even comparable. Slade was using her as a tool for dirty money. Raven, on the other hand, was trusting Terra to save the entire team while using herself as both bait and a means of tracking the others.

The girls stepped outside, and Raven closed her eyes and focused.

"He's close. I can feel his greed."

"Shit. I guess this is it. How far out did you want me to go again?"

"As far out as it takes for him to not notice you. I'll find you."

Terra turned and looked at Raven. There was no time left, she needed to leave before Slade was close enough to notice her at all. She grabbed Raven's hand and the empath looked at her, wanting to let herself feel as afraid as she actually was.

"What if something goes wrong?" Terra asked, not wanting to let go of Raven's hand. Her answer was a sudden pull into a tight warm hug and Terra instantly squeezed Raven as tightly as she was being embraced. This was how Terra knew that Raven was truly as afraid as she was and that she needed the mask to function. If Raven could do it, Terra could to.

They broke the embrace and Terra summoned the strength she needed from the belief Raven had in her.

"If we fail, I want you to know that you've been a great friend. I wish that we could have come together under better circumstances." Raven admitted as she released Terra's hand.

"God, same. I wish we could have been normal friends." She added. "After all this crap, I'm going to deal with my baggage and we're going to do normal teenager stuff."

Raven nodded, and Terra summoned up a patch of stone to float on, covering her tracks as she took off for the open water that surrounded the tower in the opposite direction of the city. She flew out for miles and miles, until she couldn't see the tower anymore. Then, just to be safe, she whittled the stone down and hid behind a buoy, still floating on her stone platform. The wait would be long, and it would feel even longer given what was about to happen.

In the interest of not being taken by surprise, Raven calmed her mind and focused on her surroundings. Even the slightest sounds carried on the gentlest breeze were carefully picked apart for any hints of her attacker.

The eerie calm was nearly becoming more tension than most could bare when a silenced pistol fired from off in the trees grew from the courtyard. Effortlessly, Raven summoned up a magical barrier and the bullet ricocheted off.

"Not bad." Slade's voice came from the thick foliage, deep, powerful and filled with the kind of greed befitting a paid murderer.

Raven turned and watched him stride confidently from cover and toward her.

"You took the others…" she accused.

"Aren't you going to ask me what I've done with them?"

"Anything you say is just to screw with me." Raven's tone was flat, but a little rough, as if she was trying to hide either rage or fear.

"Smart kid. Where's Terra?"

"We haven't been able to find her since our last H.I.V.E. raid; but I'm going to guess she had something to do with those files we found about us." Raven let a little more of her anger leak into her tone, but only enough to make Slade think she was disgusted.

"Hm." He said nothing more, and suddenly sprinted at Raven, pulling his sword from his back. Raven reacted instantly, pulling magical energy up and in front of her while sending a few blasts of it directly at him. Slade moved as if he knew all along how and where Raven would attack, fluidly and effortlessly dodging everything. Raven clenched her teeth and tried to grab his ankle to restrain or slow him, but Slade was far too fast, turning on heel and spinning to slam his boot into Raven's head.

The empath barely ducked in time, narrowly avoiding a hidden blade, but her once clenched jaw relaxed, and she smiled. Slade noticed too late, earning him a solid punch square in his jaw. He laughed a little, and jammed his left fist into Raven's stomach. She hacked loudly but quickly covered his hand in magic and flipped him head over ass by his arm. Spreading his legs out, Slade caught himself and slid his right leg forward, tripping Raven. However, Raven, instead of falling she flipped, kicked him hard in the shoulder, and took to the air.

"I wasn't expecting a close quarters fight from you." His tone was almost taunting.

"Tada." She mocked with absolutely no enthusiasm.

Slade responded with quick and explosive gun fire, that Raven quickly blocked with a shield in one hand while blasting at him with the other. The smoke and sparks made aiming directly at Slade rather difficult and he made it impossible by throwing a grenade at Raven. It exploded the second it made contact with her magic into a terribly bright flash and she was completely blinded. Slade took his chance, jumping up and onto a nearby statue, then off of it, and crashing into Raven, sending them both into the ground.

"N-no!" Raven's eyes glowed a red and black energy for a second as a mass of the same colors started to rise out of her, but it was stopped by the butt of his rifle slamming into the back of her head knocking her out cold.

"Finally. Honestly thought she'd be more of a challenge…"

And as if Raven was something as mundane as a sack of potatoes, Slade carried her limp body away with him under his arm.

About twenty minutes after Slade had left the island where Titans tower stood, a black mass shaped vaguely like a bird, glowing purple, rose from the ground and shot off into the open water.

Terra was struggling to keep her breathing even, to use the meditation tricks Raven taught her. The longer she waited the more difficult it became to keep control, to keep calm. She couldn't panic, if she went back too early, Raven's plan would fail, and all would be lost.

When the blonde had finally had enough and was about to head back, she floated out from behind the buoy and moved maybe two feet before she noticed a black mass rocketing towards her. Pausing Terra braced herself, not sure of what to expect.

It arrived, this blackness that vaguely resembled a bird, and it happily swirled around Terra. Her confusion lasted for only a second before it grazed her, and she was suddenly completely calm and knew it was Raven. It felt like the most raw and true version of her, swirling all around her and Terra couldn't help but admire how beautifully profound it felt.

"So, this is your soul self huh?"

 _ **Yes**_

Terra flinched, it wasn't like Raven spoke, more like Terra could feel her.

"Are you like, telepathic now?"

 _ **No. Different. Simpler.**_

"Ok. How long do we have until you explode or whatever?"

 _ **Two hours. Maybe.**_

"Maybe?! Shit, ok. Lead on."

 _ **Follow fast.**_

Raven's soul self took off like a shot and Terra wasn't far behind, trying her best to keep up. Raven traveled on an angle, ignoring the tower and heading for wherever the Titans were. She was actually just following Slade, following her body. The assassin traveled quickly and Raven was sure to stay just far enough back that they couldn't be detected.

Half way through the city she paused, Terra stopped, the strain of using her powers for so long was starting to get to her. The pair took a small break on a roof top.

"Sorry. I know we don't have any time, but I need a second." Terra took a deep breath.

 _ **Ok.**_

"Does being like that...hurt?"

 _ **Freeing. Still new. Rarely do this.**_

"Huh. Is that why you look like a magical black bird and not...well like you?"

 _ **Maybe.**_

"Oh…"

 _ **Slade stopped. Titans close. It's time.**_

"Crap ok. I'm ready." Terra tried to steel herself. She was going to need to break in, smash at least one Titan out of whatever Brother blood was keeping them in, covertly and help them beat Slade and the entire Blood cult. If she failed the Teen Titans were finished.

 _ **Terra. Hero. Titan.**_

Terra could feel all the faith Raven had in her, all the kinship and affection. It was a feeling of true genuine caring, acceptance and love Terra hadn't ever expected from the Titans, much less Raven only a few weeks ago. Now there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that she was a Titan, she belonged here, and she meant something to at least Raven. Something real, Something meaningful. All this time Terra had been looking for what she so desperately needed in the absolute worst place.

Terra wiped her eyes a little, clearing away a few stray happy tears and readied herself.

"Ok. Let's be heroes."

Wordlessly Raven's soul self pressed on and Terra followed. The two traveled to the slum area of the city, then the warehouse district before traveling directly underground from the side of a random massive steel shipping container.

They descended several hundred feet before Terra found a massive chamber about five feet from them. She stopped, a thin rock wall between her and whatever was happening to the Titans, to her family. In the dark of the tunnel she took a brief rest.

"I think we're here."

 _ **Yes. Need body now. Trust you.**_

"Wait!" But Raven couldn't wait any longer and her soul self moved through the wall and was gone, just like that.

Now Terra was alone in the dark of her tunnel, the rest of the plan completely up to her. The Titan's fate was totally and completely in her hands and the pressure made her anxious. But there wasn't any time to stand there and spin out of control, so Terra clenched her fists and got to work.

She could feel that the chamber in front of her was very large and had a few supports for ensuring the safety of those inside. Being underground meant that Terra had the advantage, the problem now was figuring out how to use that advantage.

Carefully, she moved just enough stone to get a look inside. Thousands of cultists, guards, machines, and weapons were stationed around and filled the massive room. There was a single very large exit to Terra's left and to her right was the biggest attention grabber. There stood a huge platform where Blood spoke to his cult, standing around him were his guards and Deathstroke...Slade. But before Terra's emotions had a chance to run wild she noticed the last and most disturbing thing. In the middle of the platform was some terrible looking machine with each of the Titans strapped into it. Some were struggling, others (like Raven) weren't moving at all.

Furrowing her brows, Terra placed her hand on the side of her tunnel, her power flowing through the stone as she shifted the earth just enough to make the ceiling less stable. Just as she planned the chamber began to rumble without any further interference from her and the cultists looked around in confusion. The rumbling and shifting got worse until a few stones fell from the ceiling of the chamber, but it would calm soon.

It was the perfect cover. Terra used her powers to send one of the falling stones down just hard enough to smash Starfire's right power dampening cuff. The Titan leader wasted no time blasting the machine apart, thus freeing the other Titans, the room exploding into an all-out brawl.

Terra burst through the wall, flying down on a slab of rock and she was making a Beeline for Slade, flying at him as fast as she could. Her chest burned with rage, her eyes stung with tears and her throat scratched with the raw scream of his name as she pulled up stone and came at him with all the power and fury of a landslide. Slade dodged a few of her attacks but they were far too numerous and powerful for him to keep up with every single one of them. A stone pillar slammed into his shoulder shattering it and sending him flying, a huge stone wall rising to trap him in a massive circle with Terra standing atop a single peak, tears of rage pouring from her eyes. The rumbling around her only slowly getting worse as Terra's power leaked out of control more and more.

"Everything you ever said was bullshit! I'm just a tool for you to use! A bitch for you to fuck!" She screamed. Slade stood with a bit of difficulty.

"Love, no. Please. I promised we would be together."

"You disgusting piece of shit. I can't believe I let you make me want you. You're old enough to be my fucking dad you creep!"

"Terra, I saved you. I love you." Slade's voice was sickeningly sweet and almost completely believable. Terra felt her insides twist, feeling a massive sense of self disgust mixing with her rage as she listened on.

"Shut up!"

"Terra please."

"Shut up!"

"Terra, love…"

"SHUT UPP!" Terra screamed as she grabbed her own head, overwhelmed and on the verge of exploding.

Cool smooth arms slipped around Terra from behind, pushing her flush against a warmth and comfort she recognized.

"Terra." Raven's voice was smooth, but not hollow or cold. It was a calm river slowly washing over Terra's embers, stopping her self-destructive fire before it even had a chance to start. Almost instantly Terra could feel herself being brought back down to earth, calming.

"Raven...did you…"

"I didn't use my powers yet. Do you want me to?"

"No. I'm good." Terra shook her head. The calming effect she felt wasn't Raven taking away her pain or calming her mind. It was simply her own bond with Raven offering the comfort she very badly needed. Raven's arms slipped away, and she stood next to her friend, tightly holding her hand.

"Don't kill him. Don't let him turn you into a monster." Raven spoke to Terra, while glaring down at Slade.

"I won't." Terra squeezed Raven's hand before they both let go and came at Slade.

At first the fight was very give and take. Slade was now fighting with the objective to kill, not capture and wasn't holding back like he had been previously. The two Titans managed to keep up with him until he slammed his boot square into Terra's sternum and sent her flying and out of breath. Tired out due to the constant use of her powers, Terra struggled to get back up.

"I can handle you." He taunted Raven.

"Don't be so sure." She warned as her skin slowly changed tone to red, her eyes glowed red, and a second pair of glowing eyes appeared above her original set.

"Aw shit…" Slade muttered before Raven blasted him and sent him ramming into the stone wall so hard that it not only knocked the wind out of him but it knocked him out cold.

The rumbling around them was turning into a complete cave in. Raven turned on heel, the cultists and Blood mostly if not completely taken care of by the other Titans while the room came down. Terra was just struggling to stand in time to see rubble crush Slade like a gory pancake and Raven sprinting to her. The others were already at the exit screaming at Terra and Raven to hurry, the last thing they saw was Raven grabbing Terra as if to help her walk before the chamber completely caved in.

"Incendit lumine." The incarnation was spoken cool and smoothly, as a small almost flame-like light exploded to life inside the tiny, cramped, dark space. At the last second Raven had placed a force field around them and now that force field was all that was keeping them from being completely buried. It was a little tight and if not for the small ball of light Raven had summoned, it would have been pitch black.

The two were laying in the tiny space, Raven leaning over Terra in the morbid hopes that if her shield failed then her body could offer protection.

Raven looked around their tiny safe space and then down at Terra, her own discomfort from being so physical pushed aside for survival. Terra laid there limp, her eyes closed but their close proximity meant that Raven could feel Terra breathing.

"Hey…" Raven whispered evenly as she placed the back of her fingers on Terra's brow. For a moment nothing happened, and Raven grew concerned that if she used anymore of her powers she wouldn't be able to maintain the force field.

Eventually Terra did slowly open her eyes. Looking dreamily up at Raven she reached up and held the hand that was touching her face and made a small humming noise. Raven let a sigh of relief slip out.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired. I've never used my powers for that long…" Terra's voice was strained, low and groggy.

"I need you to do one last thing. We're going to run out of air in here really soon. I can hold up our barrier but after making that small light ball I can't spare any more energy."

Terra nodded and sluggishly held her free hand up.

"I can try…" Focusing as hard as she could, Terra struggled to move the earth above them just enough to allow fresh air to get to them. She was so weak and drained that it felt like she was trying to move a mountain. The strain made Terra's entire body tremble, the hand she had loosely holding Raven's squeezed and she cried out, digging as deep as she could to find the power she needed. There was a small sound, like a few handfuls of stones rolling suddenly and then a tiny shaft of light broke into their little bubble.

Terra's hand fell limply, and she panted, a cold sweat breaking out all over. Raven looked up at the hole for a second before her attention snapped back down to Terra.

"Hey. Hey, stay with me. I need you awake until the others find us." Raven pleaded as she gently tapped at Terra's cheek.

Terra fought unconsciousness, her eyes nearly rolling back a few times before Raven's little taps helped her snap back. Her gaze was far off and she looked so impossibly drained.

"Wh-why..?" Terra muttered.

"I'm scared…" It was almost a breath, and for a second Terra wasn't sure she even heard it.

"Scared?"

"That you won't wake up...I can't heal you right now…" Raven's brow creased with worry and Terra smiled sleepily.

"Talk to me…"

"What?"

"I know you're quiet, but if you keep talking to me, maybe I won't pass out." Terra weakly shrugged as if to joke and added.

"And maybe it'll help your cause if you suck up a little." That made Raven smile a little and she huffed a bit at Terra's antics.

"So, you want me to kiss ass?"

"After all the shit my self-worth's been through in the last few days I think I could really use some honest ass kissing, yeah…"

Raven couldn't help but roll her eyes, still smiling.

"Well, uh. You want honestly? I don't think I could ever stand to be in this scenario with any other person ever."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm basically on top of you. There's less space further down near our feet so my legs are pretty much trapped tangled in yours and my hips are pretty much pinned to your lower stomach. If it was anyone else under me I think I'd want to separate my soul from my body again."

"That's actually really flattering but…" Terra trailed off making Raven worry.

"...but?"

Terra sighed before answering, her hand now idly holding Raven's.

"It's probably the literal worst thing for me to do but after all of this it's really hard for me to not...feel something, for you. I'm afraid that I'm doing some kind of rebound bullshit from Slade to you and the smart side of me knows that's not a good idea for me right now." Terra spoke with a little more energy now but with an almost pained tone. Her inner conflict fully on display for Raven.

"I agree." Was all Raven said for a second, making Terra look at her funny before she realized that her response was incredibly confusing.

"I mean, I agree with the rebound thing being a bad idea." She clarified and instantly felt Terra's body sink with a deep sigh like she had been struck by something.

"But that might not be what's happening either. I won't lie, I'm basically the least knowledgeable person when it comes to relationship stuff, but I think it would be a good idea to stay regular friends for a while, so you have time to deal with everything and get over Slade." That made Terra's eyes narrow and Raven quickly averted her gaze.

"You say that like once I'm ok we're going to date or something…"

"Maybe…"

"Wait what?! Seriously?"

"I'm not going to lie, there's something small I feel for you that's not quite the same as what I feel for the others. I'm not entirely sure what it is yet, but I do feel something. I actually like holding your hand and sometimes I want to **hold** you. I never really want to hold anyone ever…" Raven was a little pink in the cheeks now and Terra wasn't far behind. The empath squeezed Terra's hand ever so slightly.

"It's not always the safest idea for me to explore my emotions because of my powers...but after you've had some time to make sure you're ok, I'd like to explore this feeling with you…"

"That's great but it's getting really hard to not try to kiss you right now…" Terra admitted flatly, and Raven's eyes widened.

Terra tried not to panic, at the vagueness of Raven's reaction and what it could mean. But her fears were quickly dashed when Raven's expression relaxed, and she closed her eyes and leaned in. Terra froze. All her racing thoughts came to a screeching halt as Raven moved in closer. With her pulse thundering in her ears, face bright red, Terra closed her eyes and waited.

Soft, warm lips gently touched her forehead and normally a simple kiss to the forehead would be a massive disappointment given that Terra was expecting a kiss on the lips. But even with a bit of disappointment, knowing how Raven felt about physical contact made this simple act of affection for more meaningful.

When the warmth stopped, and Raven pulled away, Terra opened her eyes and just sort of stared for a second.

"Sorry. That's going to have to hold you over for a while." Raven tried to hide how flushed she was but even with all her control her tone still wavered, and Terra smiled.

"I'll take it."

Just then Terra's attention snapped up to the ceiling of Raven's barrier and Raven leaned on her left arm to turn and look as well.

"What is it?"

"The others found us. The vibrations feel like a dog...now a huge man or something moving to rocks above us."

"Garfield…"

"Feels like Starfire, maybe Jaime is helping. Not sure what the others are doing. I think Nightwing is trying to help dig too. Hard to tell."

"Don't strain yourself."

"Feeling the earth is something I can do while asleep. It's like breathing for me, just a little harder when I'm this worn out." Terra reassured. Raven nodded and looked back up. She couldn't see a difference, but she also had no idea how far under they were or what exact direction the others were digging from.

In this scenario Raven was basically blind and limited due to her own fatigue and the need to maintain the barrier. She had to trust Terra and the others.

The stone on her forehead glowed for a moment and Raven's expression hardened ever so slightly. Terra caught it from the corner of her eye while watching the ceiling.

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing. Just Dad…"

Terra's eyes narrowed for a moment before she got an idea.

"Hey Trigun. I bet you love seeing your 'little girl' smooching and having such a great supportive effect on little ol' me."

The stone glowed again, and this time Raven smiled.

"He really hates you and that I let you touch me at all. So that's definitely going to happen more."

"Perfect."

About a half hour of digging later and a very tired Beastboy finally pulled off a large stone to find Raven's barrier.

"Raven! Terra!?" he yelled, his concern kicked into high gear now that he had hope. This also spurred on the others and in seconds enough rubble was cleared to allow Raven to let down her barrier. The second she did, Raven nearly collapsed and knowing that she was safe now, Terra finally let go and slipped into unconsciousness.

"Raven, Terra. Are you alright?!" Kori reached forward to catch Raven as she failed to stand.

"Tired…" Raven muttered before also passing out from exhaustion.


	4. Ch4: The best medicine

When Raven first came to, her eyes opened to the cool, dimmed lights of the medical bay of Titans Tower. She didn't move at first, choosing to take inventory of how she felt physically beforehand. Given their line of work, it wasn't unheard of for anyone, or sometimes all of the Titans to be so completely fatigued from a long battle that they pass out. Raven and Terra were probably the most prone of the group, being the huge powerhouses of energy that they were. In second came Garfield; but that was more due to his body taking the beating itself every time he was unlucky enough to be hit. Not being able to shield himself meant he needed to dodge or suffer, and given the nature of his power he would occasionally pass out on the battlefield when struck with high electric shocks or energy blasts. All of this made it a little less worrisome when a Titans fell unconscious. After all, it happened rather often.

That was why when Raven saw no one around along with the time on the clock, she didn't even give the concept of someone waiting at her bedside a thought. What did get her attention and snapped her awake, however, were thoughts of Terra flooding her mind.

Turning her head, Raven spotted Terra in the bed next to her. The covers hardly disturbed and her head turned away. Once she was sure that her body was able to, Raven sat up slowly, leaning on her elbows to get a better look. Terra seemed to be in a deep, peaceful sleep for a change. It filled Raven with relief. Peaceful sleep was something they had both sorely needed after everything they had been through.

With a yawn, Raven laid back down, neatly clasping her hands over her stomach; the blanket now bunched around her midsection. She and Terra were both still in their costumes except for shoes, Terra's glove, mask, and Raven's cloak. Their shoes had been placed neatly at the foot of each bed. Terra's mask and gloves sat on the small table between them, and Raven's cloak hung on one of the hooks on the wall near the door. The room was almost painfully quiet, with only the soft sounds of the central air travelling through the vents and the equally soft buzzing from the dimmed lights in the room.

It was pitch black outside. Raven guessed that she had probably been out cold for at least a full day if not longer. She had so much lost sleep to catch up on, and her body tended to take its chance whenever possible. With a small sigh, Raven closed her eyes and cleared her mind in the hopes that sleep might take her for at least the rest of the night.

It didn't.

When morning came, Raven pulled herself from the meditation she had settled into; suddenly struck by how hungry she really was. This was her first tip-off that she had indeed been out for longer than a day. Her final confirmation came when she sat up and started to put her shoes on. The door opened, and Damian walked in. Raven instantly noticed that he was out of his Robin gear. A rare sight to see.

"You're awake," Damian stated very matter-of-factly. Raven simply finished putting on her shoes and stood up. "You were out for two days...It was quiet without you." He added as Raven turned and watched Terra for a moment.

"Didn't expect you to miss me." Raven finally spoke. Her tone was hard. Voice hoarse from dehydration. Damian's eyes shifted to Terra and his expression hardened.

"She should have said something sooner. We could have avoided all of this, we could have helped her." He spoke as though he had been personally offended. Raven turned at looked at Damian, eyes hard.

"Because you're so approachable…"

"Like you're any better? You knew! You knew and you kept it a secret! I knew you saw something that night in her room!" Damian walked right up to Raven, getting in her space and pointing an accusing finger at her. His face was awash with anger and betrayal. Raven stood her ground, not even backing up a step and keeping her voice level when she spoke.

"I opened myself up to her. I made myself vulnerable and shared things before I was ready to. To earn her trust. If I would have told you then, she would have been thrown in cuffs like a criminal instead of getting help." Her tone was absolute ice to Damian's fire.

"And risk the entire team's lives!? What if that poor excuse for a plan had failed? We'd all be dead Raven!"

"What was I supposed to do?! Terra needed someone and no one else would have understood."

"That's not your call to make! You're always telling me that Kori is our leader, not me and not **you**..." Damian snapped and Raven faltered for a second. He was right. Damian narrowed his eyes and turned on his heels.

"I'm going to tell the others what I know right now. We'll be waiting for both of you in the common room." He walked out and Raven bit the inside of her cheek.

The room was quiet for only a few seconds before Raven quietly asked.

"How much were you awake for?"

"Enough…" Terra quietly answered, voice heavy with sleep. "This is going to suck…" She added, her voice wavering with held back tears.

"Don't worry."

"They're going to kick me out..."

"Terra, I promised you that I'd make sure you were never alone again. I keep my promises." Raven spoke with so much confidence that Terra couldn't help but feel a little more at ease.

With her mask and gloves left behind, Terra put her shoes on and walked alongside Raven like a kicked puppy. Dragging her feet, tense, and holding her own left arm nervously. Terra even considered hiding under Raven's cloak briefly. If only she wasn't taller than Raven it might have been plausible.

They walked into the living room, the door opened and all the other Titans stood there. Everyone was tense, on edge. Damian, Dick, and Jaime looking the most on edge, while Garfield and Kori seemed like they were a difficult mixture of hurt and disappointed.

Silently, Raven reached over and grabbed Terra's hand and they both gently squeezed. No one said anything for a little while. The tension only grew.

"I want the truth. From the very beginning, Terra." Kori commanded, firmly yet like a mother scolding her child.

For the next half hour, Terra confessed everything; going as far back as when she got her powers and what happened as a result of that. She spoke of how Slade was the one that stopped her village and family from killing her and took her in. Terra tearfully, but honestly retold everything she could recall in the desperate hopes that if she was painfully honest they might let her stay. By the time Terra was finished, she was still crying, standing there, holding Raven's hand, and praying for mercy.

Dick sighed and rubbed his temples, trying to clear his head a little before he spoke.

"It's your call, Kori."

"No. This affects us all." She eyed Raven. "We vote."

"Before that." Raven interrupted, speaking up for the first time since they walked into the room. Damian made eye contact with her but said nothing.

"If Terra leaves, so do I."

"Raven, you don't have to do that for me!" Terra half yelled, now feeling even worse. The others gasped, shocked, obviously not expecting Raven to throw herself into the flames like that.

"I overheard a lot of Terra's conversation with Slade while they fought. The way things transpired was stupid, risky, and **not** something I will ever personally allow to be repeated. Ever." Damian paused, his expression softening.

"I once needed to be saved from someone who was trying to turn me into a monster. Sometimes I didn't want to be saved and I'm still learning… fighting the programing..." He turned and looked at the other Titans, placing his vote.

"I vote Terra stays…"

To say the others were surprised would be an understatement. Jaime and Garfield both stared wide-eyed at Damian. Even Terra and Raven were surprised. Especially given Damian's earlier argument with Raven in the infirmary. For a second, Raven considered that maybe her proclamation that she would leave with Terra might have swayed him; but that brief notion was quickly brushed aside. She and Damian were friends and the two of them were closer than he was with most of the other Titans; but Damian wouldn't compromise his and the others' safety for her sake if he felt Terra really was a real threat. The only other explanation was that something in Terra's retelling of her entire experience with Slade hit some sort of personal spot for him and now he was able to empathize with her on a level Damian wasn't able to before.

"Well, I'm voting she stays," Garfield spoke up confidently. He had honestly been worried that Damian, Dick, and Kori might vote against Terra staying. Damian's positive vote helped dispel his worries.

"Me too… We all screw up. And if we can get through Trigun _and_ hell then we can deal with this…" Jaime smiles gently at Terra. Just then, the bug chirped and he rolled his eyes.

"Scarab's a negative, but we can just ignore his vote." He tried to joke.

Kori and Dick made brief eye contact, expressions neutral and unreadable for a moment before they both shook their heads as if they had been dealing with a regular batch of unruly children. Kori sighed a little and shook her head, one hand on her hip as she tried to think of a way to handle this fairly. Regardless of what Kori was going to say, Terra knew now that she was here to stay. Relief washed over her, and Terra had to resist the urge to start crying all over again. She wanted to hear what Kori and Dick were going to say.

"What happened with Deathstroke wasn't your fault. You can stay but I need you to understand that in the future there are no more secrets that can cause harm to anyone else on the team.

That goes for you too Raven. This is the second time you've kept something this huge a secret from us and I won't tolerate it again." Kori's tone was very akin to a mother scolding her kids; and as silly as it may sound to others, Raven absolutely hated it. There was a sense of real genuine damage to her relationship with Kori and that felt awful given how much Raven looked up to and respected the team leader.

"I guess my vote makes it unanimous then. Of course, I do think a punishment is in order…" Dick looked at Kori and she nodded her head slightly, indicating that she was leaving it to him. Turning his attention back to Raven and Terra, the co-leader thought for a moment before settling on something.

"No leaving the tower except on missions. Extra training, Dishes, and laundry duty for two weeks. Oh and you have to clean the tower. All floors once, no robots to help. Other Titan's rooms excluded." He ordered dryly and Raven's shoulders slumped as she tried not to groan.

"If it means I get to stay then I'll take it…" Terra muttered quietly.

"Alright. Meeting over. You two should get something to eat." Kori suggested as the Titans began to disperse. Terra and Raven both nodded in agreement and released each other's hands. Without thinking, Raven wiped her hand on her cloak and Terra noticed.

"Sorry...nerves…"

"It's ok. I'm going to get something to eat and drink. You should wash up and do the same… and brace yourself… I was punished sort of like this back when I lied about Trigun, and Gar's laundry still gives me the creeps sometimes." Hearing that coming from someone who had literally been to hell suddenly made the concept of doing everyone's laundry genuinely scary.

If you would have told Terra a few months ago that she would ever be thankful to be grounded, she probably would have laughed. Yet here she was. Walking out of her room after a long hot shower and a fresh change of clothes, Terra felt significantly better. Now all she needed was some food and to rebuild the trust she had lost from the other Titans.

"Piece of cake…" She muttered quietly under her breath as she made her way to the kitchen. Terra might be very low on energy but she could still heat up some leftovers or eat a bowl of cereal or something.

Walking in, Terra instantly noticed Garfield sitting on the foosball table eating a bowl of oatmeal. They made awkward eye contact for a brief moment before Terra looked away. She walked over to the fridge, opened it and rummaged around.

"How are you holding up?" Garfield gently inquired, worried he would just annoy Terra. The girl sighed softly before she spoke.

"As good as you think." She weakly snapped. Garfield didn't let it affect him.

"So, Damian said when you and Slade were talking he called you 'Love' and things like that... Were you guys...like..?" He left his question there, partly out of disgust and partly because of guilt.

Terra stood from the fridge with leftover chicken from a local fast food place in hand.

"...Yeah…" She muttered as she tossed the entire box into the microwave and set the timer to warm it up.

"Did he ever...do anything to you?" Garfield had given up on the last bites of his oatmeal and sat with the bowl set next to him.

"No...but he did a great job making me want him to…" Terra's tone was heavy with disgust and self-loathing as she refused to make eye contact and instead stared at her food slowly rotating in the microwave. Garfield was starting to hate his own big mouth, but he really wanted to try and help Terra. Even if he wasn't at all qualified too.

"I'm sorry. I never realized what was really happening. I could have helped you and Raven…"

"Don't blame yourself Gar. You're a sweet guy."

"You think I'm sweet?" Garfield's entire mood perked up instantly, his tone hopeful. Terra almost instantly regretted saying that, knowing that now she was going to have to clear the air between them when it came to Garfield's crush on her.

"Look Gar." Terra turned around and made eye contact with the shapeshifter for the first time since walking into the room. "You **are** sweet, and nice, and funny, and even cute sometimes but...I just can't see you like that. We're friends and that's it. That's all I want." She explained flatly and Garfield sighed.

"Alright. I understand." His tone sounded rather crestfallen but then he added jokingly.

"No more stealing monkey kisses. Titan's honour." Garfield promised while mimicking a scouts salute. Terra smiled a little. She had honestly been worried that this would be a far more awkward and painful conversation than it turned out to be.

It wasn't often that Garfield impressed others with how mature he was capable of being; and Terra made a mental note to stop being so hard on him.

The microwave beeped and Terra opened it to retrieve her leftovers. Taking a seat on one of the bar stools, Terra ripped into the now soggy fried chicken with all the vigour of someone starved for two days. Garfield was just trying to think of something else to talk about when Jaime walked in.

He was perfectly relaxed when he saw Gar, and was about to say something in greeting when he noticed Terra and tensed slightly.

"Hey." He said simply. Gar smiled and Terra made brief eye contact.

"S'up Jaime? Did you finally talk to the people at that homeless center you were working at?"

"Yeah. They saw the car battery and everything once they finally got inside and figured some crazy dude kidnapped me. I went along with it. Told them I can't talk about it because of the police investigation and that I had to stop volunteering. Took a nice goodbye selfie though." Jaime quickly flipped his phone over and flashed the photo of the center volunteers smiling around him, one with a hand on his back.

"That sucks." Terra chimed in, earning her awkward glances from both Garfield **and** Jaime.

"What?" Terra looked up from her chicken, confused.

"Nothing. Just didn't think you cared…" Jaime explained his tone a little guarded.

"I don't, but I was also kind of a mega-bitch on and off for a while to pretty much all of you. I'm trying to deal with my crap and **not** be a mega-bitch anymore." Terra explained.

"Fair enough."

"That _does_ blow through. Didn't it make you feel better about your family?" Garfield added and Jaime's posture instantly fell. Terra took note.

"Wasn't the point of all of working there in the first place, to make the bug better with regular people?" She inquired and Jaime half glared at Terra.

"Yeah?"

"Well...have you noticed any improvement?"

"I dunno...I'm around you guys all the time so It's kinda hard to tell…" Jaime sighed and just then an idea struck Terra, but she kept it to herself.

"You never know Jaime, it might have gotten better. I mean, didn't that one guy pat you on the back in the picture?" Gar butted in and Jaime brightened, checking the photo to make sure.

"Holy crap, yeah! You're right! He touched the bug and it didn't do anything!" Jaime's voice rose with his excitement but he quickly resigned himself back in.

"I need to think and figure out if there were any other moments scarab would have normally freaked out but didn't." Almost instantly Jaime seemed far off as if he were already scanning his memories and selfies.

Terra tossed the chicken bones back in the box and then the box in the trash, having satisfied her growling stomach.

"Good luck. I'm pretty sure there's nothing I can do to help but if you think of something you can come bug me." She washed her hands in the sink as she spoke and Jaime looked at Gar, genuinely impressed with Terra's offer. A month ago Terra wouldn't have even taken part in the conversation, much less offer to help.

The earth mover waved as she walked out of the room, hands stuffed into her pockets. It was then that Terra realized just how tired she was. Not physically but mentally, emotionally. She had spent the better part of a year brainwashed and completely infatuated with someone almost three times her age. Positive that the only good people in her life to that ever really, truly, and fully accept her, were her enemy.

Getting her head on straight was not only good but necessary, however, it was hard not to feel emotionally exhausted after such a huge turnaround. After everything was said and done, it was still hard for her to really believe it. Slade Wilson... Deathstroke… was dead. The cave-in she had accidentally caused had seen to that. He was a monster, and she hated him… it was good that he was dead, but that small part of Terra couldn't help miss him just a bit. He had saved her life after all.

It was then that a thought struck Terra. What if the Titans had found her first? Slade had only found her because he was _looking._ If someone had pointed the Titans in the right direction, if they had been looking and found her first, her entire life would have been different. _She_ would have been different. What if there were more kids out there? More kids who were killed because others didn't understand them? But of course, there already were. Not necessarily because they had powers, but for other reasons; for any reason that made them different, broken, wrong.

"Hey."

Terra snapped out of her train of thought. She had been wandering and nearly walked right into Damian. It took her a moment to even realize it was him, she'd been too wrapped up in her own head to notice where she was walking. He was out of uniform, dressed formally in a simple black turtleneck and slacks.

"Going to lecture me?" Terra tried to snap, but the memory of the vote earlier sprung to the forefront of her mind and took most of the fire out of her.

"No...I'm going to apologize."

"The fuck?"

Damian's brow twitched at the foul language but he otherwise disregarded it.

"I wanted to apologize for being so... abrasive. It wasn't my intention to drive you away when you were in such dire need of assistance. I'm still learning how to be...warm; and that isn't an excuse, merely a reason so that you have context." Damian's tone was very matter-of-fact, but the hesitation betrayed him and gave Terra a glimpse into how uncertain he really was. However standoffish Damian might sound, he was being genuine.

Terra stood, eyebrows raised and with an expression like she had just seen an elephant with six trunks.

"Uhh...thanks?" She offered weakly. Damian gave her a quick, stiff nod and managed a few steps into his departure before Terra stopped him.

"Wait."

He turned but said nothing.

"Do you think I can still be a hero if I've killed someone?"

"If killing someone means you can't become a hero, then I've been damned for longer than you've probably even been able to read," Damian admitted with a tone as sharp and cold as a shard of broken ice. Terra's expression hardened but her eyes locked with his in a look of understanding.

"Self-improvement is a long, hard road and we both have a lot of work to do. Best of luck Markov."

"Same to you Wayne."

 _ **T̵̡̪̮͌̂̇ả̸̙̂̓k̷̦̹͝͠e̷̝̥̣̐ ̸̟̖͗̏w̵͖̩̿̂h̴̖̐̑͒á̷̩̬̖̂t̴̮͈̀̈́ ̵̡͈̏ÿ̸͇͘ȍ̵̘͕̎u̸̟̩̦̎̄̓ ̸̮̱̹͝w̷̦͐̉͆a̸̢̠̠͂̕n̴̟͎͆̓͘t̴̗̍́!̸̨͍̣̅͆ ̴͙̙̄ͅY̸̩̊͝o̷͎̥̓u̶̯̣͌̈́ ̷̢̨̝̌͂̇g̵͖͠i̸̢͒v̵̘͋e̴̦̗̅̾ ̷̡͍͇̊t̸̻͋ͅͅh̴̢̗̾̈́̚͜é̵͚͚͇̉͝ ̴̗̩̿͝m̵̟̲͛̂o̵̖̅̍̊r̶̬̒t̴̬̺͆͠ả̵̡͇͇̏̋l̸̤͚̙̎̐̾ ̵̝͒̓t̵̬͝i̴̗͂m̴̜̖̟͗̋͗e̴͈̬͝ ̶̦̀̉̆a̸̺̽ͅs̴͈͗̔̕ ̶̘̂̆͑ṱ̶͌̕h̶͙̭̍ọ̶̪͉̒u̴̺̓̋͝g̶̺͈̈̽h̷̢̦͙͆ ̷͍̥͐͑í̸̧͈̪ṯ̷̊̎̇s̴̗͑̈̕ ̶͇̣̄͘ṇ̷̡̼̀̇́e̵̼̔͛ě̶͈͊̕d̶͙͑͜s̴͉͒ ̵̰͑̑m̵̢͎͇̓̊ą̸̛̛̖̜̀t̵̘̹̐̊͠t̶̛͚͕̯̃ė̸̺͍͛r̵͍̯̎͜͠.̷̜̰̐̂ ̶̮͉̬̉̎͊Y̷̢͉̠̌̃̓o̶̯͈̔ủ̴̮̣͝ ̸͚͓̰͘ȧ̷̩̓͝r̶̯̭͈̈́̍e̴͕̙͒̈́ ̸̡̨͚̈́͛̑t̸̺́́͐h̵̍ͅe̵̤̘͝ ̶̪̟͛̐d̶̰̱̠̍̈a̷̢̟̲̒̈́̈́ư̴̤̻̈́̏g̴̠̺̟̈́̽͠ḥ̴̟̃̓t̴̘̠̭̽̈e̴̯̔r̶̺̊ ̵̪̲̈́o̶̫͚͈̓̈́f̷̤̠͖̓ ̴̖̩̏̉T̴̢̺̉̄̋r̸̓́ͅͅi̵̝̺̪͂͊g̸̹̈́͠u̶̲̽͒n̴̟͙͋̏̎!̸͍̱̪̈́̾!̸̼̩̳́̓̓ ̶̨̝̤̓̽T̴̞͔̾a̴̫̾̈́k̶̡̀ͅę̷̙̦̀͊ ̵̭͙̑͑a̵̹͘n̵̨͂͗ḍ̴͖̀̚ ̶̩̃̽͝n̷̂̀͜ē̴̥̏̈́v̸͇̘́è̶̮̘̈́r̴͕͌ ̸͔̏͆̕l̸͓̠̆͠ơ̵̺͌ö̴͇̜̖k̵͍̜̅ ̸̧̰͙̀͠b̵̞͑̀̇á̶̙̐c̴̜̄̈́k̷̼̈́!̶̣̺̦̍͗**_

Raven refused to acknowledge the voice of Trigun seeping from her gem. Acknowledging him would only make it worse after all, and speaking back to him never did any good. Slightly annoyed that he seemed harder to block out while she was still weakened, Raven stopped the light scribbling she had been half attempting and let the dark, handmade quill fall from her hand to the pages below.

In the silence of her room, Raven tossed the idea of meditation around for a few seconds before giving it up. Maybe a more frivolous distraction would prove more effective; after all, meditation was more for maintaining control and balance. What Raven needed right now was a distraction.

She stood to browse the large bookshelves that lined half of her room. Most of the old tomes were reference materials for her magic, mythology, and folklore related, or something along those lines. However, there were a few books simply for pleasure's sake that sat in their own little section; and fewer still, that she saved for times like these that had yet to be read. Might as well enjoy them now that she'd be more or less forced to stay inside the tower (again).

Her hands skimmed over a few of the book spines affectionately as she made her way to her recreational reads. In passing, her eyes and hand slid over a self-help book she had picked up after hearing good things from review sites she trusted. Pausing, Raven pulled the book out and glanced at the cover. It was a book on overcoming PTSD and similar issues. A collaborative work by a collection of renowned therapists and the like. It had certainly proved helpful back when Raven had first given it a read and the memory led to the book being tucked neatly under her arm. Careful that the folds in her t-shirt wouldn't catch and dog ear the soft cover of the book, Raven quickly grabbed another rather old hardcover for herself before turning to make for her door.

A knock interrupted Raven's trip outside her room and curiously, she opened the door only to be surprised and all the while not at all to see Terra.

"Hey. Sorry to keep bothering you." Terra muttered flatly.

"It's fine. I was actually coming to find you." Raven produced the book from under her arm and handed it to Terra.

"I thought this might be helpful. It helped me."

The stone on her head flashed briefly.

 _ **Y̶̦͌e̴̛̼s̶̮̄ ̸͓̀f̶̦̓ḭ̶͑x̸͖͒ ̵̬͗y̶̜̅ö̸͈u̷̱͛ŕ̷̞ ̷̬̐n̵̺͠ḙ̷̎w̸͍͋ ̶̖̐ṯ̵̚o̷̹͗ẏ̴̢ ̵̪̉b̵̹̒e̷̢̓f̷̤͊ȏ̵̪r̴̬͐ë̶̥́ ̶̗̆ÿ̷̺́ó̴͍ṵ̵͛ ̸̡̓b̷͈̂r̷͈̎e̶͔̍ȃ̷͉k̴̟̂ ̸̳̆h̶̠͐e̶͉̚ŕ̶̩ ̷͎̈́y̸̤͑o̴̮͊ú̵͍ȓ̷̙s̶̱͌e̴̖͌l̸͕̇f̴̆͜!̵̧̔ ̸͙̄M̵̭͑a̸͕̾ǩ̸̭e̴̲̍ ̶̛̭ṫ̵̙h̴̍͜e̶̺͛ ̴̓ͅḿ̴͉ỏ̵͕r̸̪̈́ţ̴̋a̴̙͋l̵̩̈́ ̷̻̊b̶͔̔ẽ̴̗ṇ̶̓d̸̪̓ ̴̻́b̵̥͘e̶̟͘f̷̱̋o̴͊͜r̶̼͋e̴̼̎ ̸̼̋y̴̖̍ơ̷̥ủ̴̝!̷̨̊**_

Raven sighed but otherwise remained quiet while Terra examined the book, not noticing the Trigun's activity.

"Yeah, this actually looks pretty useful. Thanks." Terra looked up from the book and caught Raven looking troubled for only an instant before the half demon's expression turned flat.

"Are you alright, Raven?"

"It's not a big deal. I can deal with it on my own." Raven vaguely indicated the book she was holding.

"I don't mean to get all in your space but I kind of owe you one; and I mean, just because you can deal with it on your own, doesn't mean you have to." Terra offered.

Raven stayed quiet to think for a moment, then turned and glanced briefly into her dim room, shutters drawn closed. Part of her was mildly worried about being labelled negatively; but after a moment's consideration, Raven settled on opening up a little once more.

"Dad's bothering me a lot. I'm weakened right now and he knows it. So I was going to distract myself with a book I had been saving…" Raven paused, feeling a little awkward. She did actually want to read but the company would be nice.

"Is reading together something people do? I wouldn't mind the company but…" She trailed off. Terra flipped the book Raven had handed her over in her hands.

"Sure, why not? I read sometimes. I usually put some soft music on while I read too. Helps me get into it." Terra stayed where she stood however. She was painfully aware that literally no one had ever been inside Raven's room before.

"Alright. Come in, and uh, sorry about the mess." Raven stepped back and Terra forward.

With the room still dim, the first thing that caught Terra's attention were the sigils on the windows. Trying not to be negative about it, she looked around and found herself a little awestruck at her surroundings. The newest addition to Raven's decor, hand made hanging charms, were something of what captured most of her attention.

"Hold on." Raven quickly put a few seemingly random nick-nacks away, and using a long thick black cloth, covered part of her second bookshelf. She then proceeded to open the shutters to let natural light into the room.

Almost instantly, the atmosphere changed. The light bounced off if the hanging charms, and caught the coloured glass shapes that hung near the windows. The room went from gloomy to full of warmth and colours. The smell of rosemary was the last detail to really hit Terra before Raven broke the silence again.

"Some of my stuff doesn't go well with sunlight." She offered a brief explanation, feeling a tad anxious having someone in her room.

Terra reached out as if in a daze and gently touched a hanging crystal.

"What is all this?" Terra's tone held a sense of wonder about it which surprised Raven.

"They're charms I've been working on. Protection, wards, purifying… That sort of thing." Raven answered with a slight tension unsure of where this would go.

Terra touched the crystals on the charms and felt a strange calmness through her powers, her connection to the earth. This was definitely something she was going to have to bug Raven about later.

"They're beautiful." It was almost a breath as the words fell from Terra's lips. Raven flushed a little darker than she would have liked. This was something with far more meaning to her than a compliment to her appearance or similar surface qualities. This compliment struck deeper.

"...Thanks…"

By the time Terra's attention finally fell from all the uniquely beautiful items scattered around Raven's room (of which she only touched the crystals); Terra noticed the dried plants hung on the string that ran from one of the bookshelves to the wall and the small workshop like table and tools tucked in the corner. It seemed a little too private to wander over to so instead, she looked at the plants, realizing that this was the cause for the interesting smell.

"You planning to cook or something?" Terra asked, turning to see Raven had sat on her bed and was idly watching Terra explore.

"No. Rosemary is a demon repellent. Doesn't work on beings as powerful as my father but it's a good way to ward off other things."

Terra's brow creased and she looked back at the plant.

"Does it hurt you?"

"Not usually, but…" Raven lifted her hand and a small bottle no bigger than her pinky floated over to Terra, uncorked itself, and a bit of dried rosemary tucked itself inside before the bottle corked itself once again and floated into Terra's hand.

"...it gives me hives if I don't use gloves and if I eat it, it feels like I have food poisoning for around 24 hours. Depending on how much I eat. When my demon side starts acting up it stings and makes me swell up if it's rubbed on me. Never tried eating it while I was like that, but it's unpleasant enough that it can snap me back to myself."

"So you're basically allergic to it, but like a lot more in the red glowy eye form?" Terra eyed the jar.

"Yeah. Every titan has something that can help slap sense into me if need be. It was about time I gave you something."

Terra scowled and looked right back at Raven.

"I don't like this. You don't go berserk. I've _never_ seen you lose it."

"I nearly did when we fought Slade."

"Ok. Once."

"The risk is still very real. Why do you think I meditate so often? Have all these protections, talismans, and wards? My father might talk a lot of crap, but he is right about how dangerous I could be. I think if the justice league knew they'd lock me up."

Terra snorted and rested her hand on her hip, with a bit of sass she responded.

"Oh come on. I know your dad could like 'end all life' or whatever, but we have so many superheroes that could reign you in if we needed. Like how dangerous could you really be?"

Raven's expression darkened a bit and the stone on her head flashed. Terra tensed a bit as the air grew heavy.

"Do you promise not to go back to being scared of me? Or creeped out or whatever?" She asked, sounding strangely small.

"I promise." Terra answered without hesitation.

"If I really lost it and let my demon blood just...take over. I could kill every single Kryptonian and pretty much every hero whose power isn't related to some kind of cosmic god." The shame on Raven's face would have made Terra want to rush to reassure her if not for the shock rooting her to the spot.

"...that's insane...how...what the hell…" Terra rambled.

"...I hope you don't think differently of me…" Raven sounded so small and her voice snapped Terra out of her surprised stupor. She rushed forward and grabbed Raven's shoulders, the contact startled the half-demon and she flinched. Terra regretted the speed of her actions instantly but didn't let go.

"I don't! It's just really surprising to learn that you've got something that huge hidden inside you. I mean, you can do a lot of good with that kind of power."

"I can, if I can control it." and with that simple reply, the weight of how much Raven worked on self-control, how much she meditated, everything clicked together so wildly and perfectly into place.

"God damn…" Terra sat next to Raven, the self-help book forgotten in her left hand.

"Everything I know about you just started making way more sense...shit…"

With a sigh, Raven floated up slightly and drifted up to sit against the headboard of her perfectly made bed.

"Is that a good thing?" Raven asked, trying to settle her tone back into its usual flat range. Terra turned to sit cross-legged on the bed so she could face Raven.

"I think so. You're always so...well I used to think you were weird, maybe kind of creepy. But I think that was because I didn't know or understand you. Now that I understand you more I can see that the way I used to think of you was wrong…"

Raven raised an eyebrow, confused and so Terra continued.

"Like, yeah demon stuff is still kind of creepy but that's not really **you** or **your fault**. You just have to deal with creepy things, but that doesn't make you creepy. Like being one with the earth doesn't make me dirty and covered in mud or whatever.

And you're not weird. You're private, reserved, maybe a little shy, kind, grounded, smart as hell, and mysterious."

Raven eyed Terra with suspicion.

"That's nice to hear...I guess. Is being mysterious good or bad?"

"I think it makes you more interesting. And you know what they say; mystery is sexy."

Raven snorted and laughed.

"That saying never made any sense to me."

Terra smiled back, glad she could turn Raven's mood back around.

After that, the two started to read their respective books and fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Raven looked up from her book for a moment. Using her powers, she put her phone into a small dock with speakers that sat on her dresser and set a playlist she thought they both might like. Terra looked up at the dock, then at Raven.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

A few songs, all obviously from the same band, played; and although they weren't the style she'd usually listen to, Terra found the lyrics and style extremely interesting. Another song started up and after the first few lines she looked up at Raven.

"Ok, you're gonna have to give me these guys' name and stuff because I'm really loving them."

It took Raven a moment to pull herself from her book to respond.

"They're called 'The Birthday Massacre' and I can send you their entire discography."

"Thanks. Those first few lines, 'I can't decide which one of us will leave here alive.

Your fingers breaking as I place them over mine' I love that. It's messed up, but sort of beautiful."

"That's kind of their entire thing, yeah."

"What style of music are they? I've never heard this style like ever."

"They're considered 'New Wave, Gothic Rock, Electronic Rock, Darkwave' but I think 'Gothic Rock'. But 'Darkwave' describes them best."

"Hmm. Thanks."

Again, the two settled back into reading. This time, with the soft music playing in the background. It was comfortable, and Raven enjoyed the different atmosphere that came with having someone whose company she enjoyed simply being in the same room.

The gem on her forehead flashed again, but this time Raven found it much easier to ignore.

After having finished her book, Terra made a mental note to go over it a few times later after she had given everything some time to sink in. Turning, she looked at the time, surprised to see only an hour and a half had passed. She messed around on her phone for a few minutes before her curiosity got the better of her and the earthmover scooted up to sit next to Raven.

"What are you reading?"

"Notre-Dame de Paris...sorry, 'The Hunchback of Notre-Dame'." Raven quickly corrected.

"Was that like, an alternative title?"

"It's the original French title. Took me a second to remember most people don't know it by that name. It's a lot more grim than I realized."

"How so?"

"A good portion of the story is about manipulation, abuse, and this priest lusting after a Romani woman to extremes. He's a huge creep."

"Whoa ok, I thought it was a kids' story."

"Definitely not."

"Maybe I should check it out. Can I borrow your copy?"

"I don't think so. Not unless you can read french."

Terra's attention snapped to the book's open pages than back to Raven, only now noticing that it was indeed in French.

"You can read French?!"

"I can also write and speak it fluently. Je m'entraînais seul quand Je m'ennuyais.

I'm a polyglot, someone who is able to speak several languages and learn them easier than others. I speak 9 now." Raven replied with a small smile and Terra stared for a moment.

"That's amazing! What languages do you speak?"

"English, German, Latin, Romanian, Ancient Sumerian, Sanskrit, Azaranian and French. I want to learn Arabic, but I've been torn on which dialect to start with. I'm also interested in Korean, Japanese, and Spanish, and I'm working on Russian right now." Raven added, letting herself feel just a little proud.

"How the hell do you keep doing that?"

"Excuse me?" Raven asked, confused.

"You keep proving that you're basically the most interesting person I've ever met." Terra smiled and Raven couldn't help but enjoy the slowly growing treat of seeing her friend happy.

"Thank you. This is honestly the most I've ever really talked about myself. It's...weird. But nice. I know your past isn't a fun place to visit, but I'd like to get to know you better outside of your trauma if you're willing to share."

Terra's smile dropped and she stared off into the distance, her mind going to a darker place.

"I'm...not sure I know as much about myself as I should by now. I'm not really sure I know who I am outside of all the bullshit I've been through. It's been basically my entire life until recently…" Terra sighed and her brow furrowed in frustration for a moment before she forced a sad laugh.

"Pretty stupid. I'm 17 and I don't know who I really am as a person…"

Raven closed her book and placed her hand atop Terra's. The earth mover stared at the bedspread, but wordlessly turned her hand over to hold Raven's.

"I don't think it's stupid at all. I think we're all still trying to figure out who we are."

"But you've got it all figured out!" Terra countered and Raven's expression hardened a bit as she gave her friend's hand a small squeeze.

"No. I really don't. I'll admit I'm intelligent and well-read, but that's because I'm searching. I'm always reading, learning, because there's so much I don't know. No matter how much I learn it's all about the world around me. Not who _I_ am. I don't know if I'll ever find what I'm looking for, I'm not even sure what it is that I'm trying to find.

But I do know that learning more never hurts; and that as scared as I am to let others get close, I need too. Forming relationships with others might hold risks that scare me but nothing has taught me more about myself than friends, and even my enemies."

Raven turned to look at Terra, and the blond finally peeled her eyes from the bed to look at her friend.

"Even the bad things. As much as I hate him, my father has shown me a lot about myself I wouldn't have known otherwise; and as terrible as the things I've suffered through have been, they've made me into who I am. For better and worse.

I might be different, quiet, and a little weird about being touched; but I'm also very mature for my age, self-sacrificing, and I can use what I've been through to make sure no one else suffers the same way. Or at least help them come out of it alright."

"Like me."

"Yeah."

Terra paused, closed her eyes for a moment, and took a deep breath. Letting it out slowly, she kept her eyes closed.

"What did my pain give me other than a shitty attitude…" She spoke softly and Raven waited, still holding her hand.

"...You shouldn't judge people just because you don't understand them...shit, I did that to you…"

"You're learning. Go on."

"...People are shitty?"

"Try again…"

"...People are scared of what they don't understand."

"But you can teach them and change their minds," Raven added and Terra opened her eyes and glanced at Raven.

"Like you changed mine about you."

Raven nodded.

"See? You just need to focus on what you can take away from it all. And It doesn't hurt as much when you choose to face it instead of letting it surprise you." Raven encouraged, and Terra nodded but seemed tired.

"Yeah...still hurts though…"

"It probably always will."

"I was about to ask you if growing up hell still bothered you, but then I realized that was a really stupid question." Terra offered a weak smile and Raven smiled back.

"Kinda yeah." The blunt response made Terra smile widder.

"Having you here to help me pick apart everything helps though. It makes me feel safer."

"I'm glad."

"And I thought of a way to help return the favour, at least a little." Now Terra was smiling more naturally and when Raven felt her emotions she seemed calmer.

"How?"

"I can help you learn Russian. Mine's rusty and could use some practice after all this time anyway." Terra offered and Raven looked at her slightly confused.

"You speak Russian?"

"Duh." She rolled her eyes, "It's my first language. My last name is 'Markov' where did you think I was from?" Terra gave a single dry laugh and Raven playfully shoved her.

"Ok, fair enough. I never really made the connection especially since-"

"Since what? Since I don't _talk like this?_ " Terra slipped on a very fake and forced sounding Russian accent with a big grin on her face.

"No I just...you never talk about your past. And in the visions I saw, your emotions were so powerful and distracting I couldn't really pay attention to the language being spoken around you."

"Relax, I'm messing with you. I'm not really all 'praise mother Russia' and all that anyway. In case you haven't noticed." Terra snorted then added. "Guess I should thank Slade for at least getting me all set up here in a less scary country and helping me speak English well enough that you couldn't tell it's not my first language."

"I still wouldn't thank that bastard for anything." Raven huffed and Terra laughed.

"Wow, are you getting all protective of me? That's cute." Terra tease and Raven smirked, lifting their entwined hands and softly kissing the back of Terra's. Terra flushed and stared at Raven.

"Maybe I am."

Awkwardly clearing her throat, Terra forced herself to stare down at the bedspread.

"You're making it _really_ hard not to kiss you…" Terra admitted and Raven frowned a little.

"Sorry. I'm honestly not sure where the line is between showing affection and flirting." Raven admitted, and Terra gave her hand a little squeeze.

"My love scope or whatever you could call it is sort of really fucked up. So I probably interpret things with a skewed perspective anyway."

"Oh good. You need a stable, healthy, loving environment, but don't know how to tell what's platonic love and what isn't; and I want to help provide said environment, but have no idea how to prevent accidentally triggering romantic feelings. That sounds like a bad mixture for your emotional and mental health." Raven sighed and used her free hand to rub her temple, then added.

"I really don't want to cause some sort of rebound thing to happen here."

"Yeah. You deserve better."

"...I meant because it's probably not a good idea for you. You're already dealing with a lot." Raven clarified with a frown.

"You're not wrong there. On top of everything I was pretty sure I was straight but now with this sort of liking you stuff, and noticing little other things about myself I'm...prooobably not straight…so that's a whole other thing..." Terra turned to Raven and asked.

"What about you?"

"What _about_ me?"

"Well, you said you feel something you're not sure about for me so...I mean that doesn't sound straight…"

"Oh. I'm not well educated enough on those kinds of topics."

"I know some stuff. Thank the internet. Maybe I can help." Terra scooped her phone up in her free hand, ready to fact check.

"Uh...does it matter?"

"I dunno, sometimes knowing the term for something makes you feel less weird about it."

Raven gave it some thought and reasoned that she was often seen as 'the weird one' and knowing couldn't hurt.

"Sure. How do we do this?"

"Um...so uh, what are you into?"

"Uhhh…?" Raven looked at Terra and the earthmover shook her head a little with a small smile.

"What kind of people are you sexually attracted to?"

"No one?"

"Oh come on."

"No, really I'm not...I don't know how to describe it."

"Horny?"

"Terra we're minors."

"Oh my god Raven teenagers mess around all the time! What do you mean you don't feel like that? Like ever?"

"Ugh." Raven groaned and hung her head in annoyance.

"I mean I do just not…I don't see someone and get like that." Raven flushed, becoming uncomfortable.

"Wait, when you see anyone? Like even really attractive people?"

"Yeah. I just...they look nice? But never that...now that I'm saying all of this out loud I _feel_ like I'm weird…" Raven frowned and her blush darkened. Terra briefly wondered if this might have been a mistake.

"You feel like that for people you find attractive?" Raven asked, leaning her head back and staring at her ceiling. She was trying to calm herself, lord knows her powers didn't need to start acting out.

"Yes." Terra didn't hesitate. "Pretty strongly." She quickly searched around on her phone.

"Ok hold on, Wednesday Adams, I found something."

Raven lowered her head, her blush faded and feeling a little more in control. She leaned over and tried to see Terra's phone a little, curious.

"So while I read this, what kind of people are you _romantically_ interested since the sexual attraction stuff is a little confusing right now."

"Uhhh…I guess everyone? I don't really feel any differently toward one gender identity or another."

"Ok that helps...alright yeah so you're on the 'ace' spectrum."

"The what?"

"People who don't really feel sexual attraction or at least don't unless very specific conditions are met."

"Like?"

"Well…" Terra paused to scroll down her phone and read a bit more. "...Demisexual is on the ace spectrum and it means you don't feel sexual attraction until you have a strong emotional connection first. And theres GreyAsexual...sounds like if you experience sexual attraction sometimes but it's rare...there's a lot here actually. Let me text this link to you."

"Demisexual sounds plausible. Although, I don't know if I've ever gotten that close to someone before. So maybe time will answer that for me. None of these had a gender preference?"

"Seems like they can but not always. So I think it still fits." Terra answered as she browsed around the site.

"You made the conversation about me again…" Raven pulled her hand from Terra's and grabbed the blond's phone.

"Hey!" Terra didn't have time to protest further as a kock came at Raven's door.

"Raven?" The muffled voice of Garflied asked from behind the door.

Confused, both girls looked at each other before Raven passed Terra her phone back and got up to answer the door.

"Yes?" She asked, opening the door to find Garflied standing there with a large garbage bag. The smell didn't make it any easier to tell of it was trash or his laundry.

"Sorry...If I knew you and Terra were going to be stuck with this I probably would have done it sooner…" he motioned at the bag.

Ah, Laundry then.

"Wouldn't be much of a punishment if you did." Raven was back in her comfortable deadpan tone.

"I guess. I tried to find Terra first but-"

"She's in here with me."

"Whooaa! You let someone into your room?!" Garfield gasped and Terra approached from just behind Raven, curious.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Gar's laundry." Raven answered flatly.

"Oh my god is that what that smell is?!" Terra scowled at the garbage bag.

"Yeaaahh… Sorry…"

"Good lord Gar! I was gonna ask what died in that bag but now I know it was only your personal hygiene!"

"Hey! I shower every day and use deodorant! I have great personal hygiene! I'm just really lazy when it comes to laundry is all; and I've gotten better!" He defended.

"He's right. Last time I had to do this it was three bags and he showed up at my door as a monkey because he had no clean clothes left at all."

"I was an orangutan, not a monkey, and I had a hawaiian shirt on!"

Raven sighed and pitched the bridge of her nose while Terra snorted.

"Oh my god. Ok monk-"

"Orangutans are apes not monkeys!" He insisted, hands on his hips and scowling.

"Ok ok, calm down, Jumanji. Give us the bag and we'll handle it, but try not to let it pile up this bad next time."

Garfield tugged the bag closer only for both girls to flinch. Raven lifted her hand and sealed the bag in a ball of energy.

"Sorry again." He shifted into a small bird to follow them.

"We should probably ask the others." Raven added.

The rest of the day was regrettably spent taking care of everyone's laundry and the task was only made mildly more annoying by hummingbird Garfield hovering around the two for the first few hours.


	5. Ch5: To those who wait

"Oh my god, this is going to take the entire time we're grounded!" Terra yelled as she pushed her mop. Raven who had been forbidden from using her powers was pushing her own mop several feet ahead of Terra. Both had started the monumental task of cleaning the entire tower by hand two days ago and were only on the Submarine hanger with a total of 22 floors left excluding private rooms.

"That's sort of the idea," Raven grunted. She wasn't one for complaining but god was she ever getting sick of mopping the hanger. The two had been at it for four hours.

"After this floor, we're taking a break tomorrow! I'm going to fucking lose it if I need to mop another floor without a day's break!" Terra had to resist the urge to throw her mop. She knew she deserved this but holy hell was she tired.

"We can dust to-"

"No! Break! You too!" Terra yelled to Raven, pausing her cleaning to point at the empath.

Raven's reply was a smile before Garfield came bursting into the hanger holding a large pizza box in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.

"Hey, guys I-"

" _Gar if you get the floor we just spent 4 hours mopping fucked up I swear I will turn you inside out_!" Terra warned and Garfield paused in the doorway.

"Four hours and you guys are already half done? Daaamn took Raven 9 hours to get half the hunger done last time!" He morphed into a flying dinosaur neither girl could remember the name of and with the pizza box in his long bill and bag held in his foot, Garfield flew over the clean part of the floor and landed rather gracefully on a large steel storage bin.

"Brought you, ladies, some grub and drinks." He morphed back into his human form and set the box and bag down on the bin.

"Break time!" Terra dropped her mop and jogged over to the tall steel bin, only to realize there was no way for her to climb it.

"Ugh, why is nothing easSYYYY!" She began to complain before Raven grabbed her wrist and flew the both of them up.

"Oh, good idea. Don't wanna be pulling up the floor you're trying to clean." Garfield praised.

"Being able to fly on your own is useful," Raven added as she grabbed a slice of Pizza.

"Yeah, but riding a floating bolder looks cooler."

The three ate in relative silence before Raven noticed the time.

"We're going to have to finish the Submarine hanger later. We only have about fifteen minutes before afternoon training."

Terra let out a loud groan and tossed the crust of her pizza slice into the box. Garfield nodded at Raven as he finished up his last bite.

"Kori looked more hype than usual. Think she's gonna make us do something weird?" He asked, curiously.

"Or really, really hard," Raven answered.

"Or hard _and_ weird," Terra added with a snort.

Terra stood and stretched, a few of her stiff joints popping as she loosened up.

"Well, you look about ready to go grasshopper." She nodded at Garfield to indicate his suit. He smiled.

"Yeah. You want me to fly you to the door and then I'll meet u guys outside after you change and stuff?" He asked as he stood as well, leaving the pizza and soda cans atop the storage bin.

Terra's answer was a shrug and quick "Sure." Before the three of them were out of the hanger, and on their way to whatever Kori had planned.

Outside was so bright it made Terra and Raven's memories of the hanger seem far more depressing than they actually were. It was terribly hot, hot enough that Jaime's beetle was chirping in annoyance already and they had only just gotten outside.

All the titans stood in front of a clearing as Starfire stepped out in front with a small bag in hand.

"For the next few days, I'd like to train in something I feel most of us are sorely lacking in. Fighting in hand to hand combat without the use of our powers." She announced and the younger titans snapped to attention, curious and a little worried.

"I have these power dampening cuffs. Now there's no need to worry, they've been modified so that if you dig deep enough you can override them." Reaching into the bag, Starfire showed off what looked like a high tech wristband, just a single.

"Damian and Dick will sit this first training session out. But they'll be watching closely to assist us all in being less helpless when we're forced into a less than ideal situation.

Now for today, I'll match you up to spar against one another. Tomorrow, it will be two of you against myself, and two against Dick." Starfire stepped forward to begin placing the power dampening cuff on each of the four titans that would be participating.

"Man this is going to suck. I'm so used to changing shape! What if I do it without thinking?" Beast Boy complained.

"Then you lose," Raven replied flatly. Blue beetle laughed.

"Come on BB, you nerrvoouuss~?" He teased and Beast Boy waited until Starfire wasn't looking to quickly mouth something she'd disapprove of at him.

"Alright. Now first I think we'll have Jaime and Raven."

"Aw man. Punching Raven feels…rude or something…" Blue Beetle groaned as the two approaches the open space of the clearing.

"If it makes you feel any better remember I went toe to toe with Deathstroke for a good few minutes and I _let_ him knock me out." Raven smiled, hood up and trying to ignore the heat.

"Ok, yeah. Definitely don't feel as bad now."

Raven's reply came as a smile as the two stood across from each other in the clearing, ready to start.

"The first one to use any powers at all or give up losses. Begin." Starfire yelled and the two eyed each other, tense and waiting for the other to make the first move.

A few seconds into the stalemate Blue Beetle gave in first and in a stance similar to one commonly seen in boxing he rushed towards Raven. The half-demon waited, limbs hidden in her cloak as she stood intimidatingly still. When Blue Beetle pulled his fist back to swing at her Raven quickly ducked under his reach and slammed her palm upwards into his jaw. The second the hit connected Blue Beetle slammed his left elbow downward into Raven's shoulder blade.

She stumbled but planted a firm hand on the ground to catch herself and flipped, freeing up her legs. Mid-flip Raven sprung up and Blue Beetle just barely managed to step out of the way and avoid being kicked straight upwards. He didn't let Raven recover, however. The second he had stable footing, Raven had only just gotten back on her feet and Blue Beetle slammed his fist into her gut with a grunt. Raven coughed but grabbed his arm before he could pull back.

"Ugh!" Blue Beetle grunted, surprised at Raven's strength for a moment before she swung her body around, using his arm as an anchor, and smashed her knee into the side of Blue Beetle's head.

The boy stumbled, and if not for the armour his beetle gave him, Jeime was sure that would have knocked him out. He was seeing stars but not wanting to give Raven time to beat him up, he spun and swung blind. Raven sidestepped it but was caught by surprise when his fist opened and Blue Beetle grabbed the shoulder of her cape. With a grunt, she tried to hit his elbow but with his vision returning Blue Beetle was able to grab her wrist and with a groan, he tossed Raven to the ground.

The half-demon hit the ground hard and before she could stand Blue Beetle clasped his hands together and attempted to slam them down. Luckily Raven caught his arms, stopping his fists short of smacking her. The two grunted, stuck in a stalemate once again.

"Ughh how are you...so strong?!"

"...sorry Jeime…" Raven breathed before she used her legs and with a yell through the boy off of her and halfway across the field. With his own yell Blue Beetle sailed through the air and rolled across the grass before he stopped himself and had to take a moment to catch his breath.

"Ok, ok you win. Holy crap…" He grunted as he stood.

"Are you ok?" Raven asked as she calmly approached him.

"Yeah. Just sore. You?"

"Same."

"Next time Jeime!" Garfield yelled as he waved encouragingly while the two approaches the sidelines.

Terra was eyeing Raven but glanced away when the other girl noticed and their eyes met briefly, feeling a little guilty for checking Raven out during a fight.

"You did pretty well Jeime." Dick encouraged but his statement was quickly dashed away.

" _Pretty well?_ Greyson, you need to get your eyes checked. That was a mess and Raven didn't do much better. You're both sloppy. Greyson and I will have our work cut out for us in teaching you competent hand to hand styles." Damian steamrolled right over Dick and the man sighed. He was going to have to do the good cop bad cop song and dance again wasn't he?

"You know you're probably right. I nearly learned proper boxing so I'll take anything I can learn." Jeime admitted as he rubbed his head to stave off a migraine.

Raven stayed silent, thinking over how she could improve on her own while Starfire removed their power dampeners and placed them on Terra and Garfield.

"We'll focus on that tomorrow." Starfire started, finishing up on Garfield's wrist. "Next will be Garfield and Terra."

"Alright let's get this over with Green Bean." Terra sighed as she rolled her shoulders.

"Why? Ya scared?" He taunted and Terra rolled her eyes.

"Did you forget that Slade trained me?"

Garfield threw his arms up and yelled loudly. "I GIVE UP!" and Jeime snort-laughed while Starfire scowled.

"That's not how this works Garfield. You can't give up before the training has yet to begin!"

"Aw crap…"

"Come on. Square up, Grasshopper." Terra mocked as she stood with her arms crossed.

Nervously, Garfield took a breath and pulled from all his time with the titans, with Dick, and Kori and all they had taught him. By the time he exhaled Garfield had moved into a stance similar to something, one would see in judo.

A few of the other titans made noises of mild surprise and Terra smirked.

"Good. I want at least a work out from this after all." She taunted, and without moving into a stance at all, simply standing there she waited.

Too nervous to make a move himself, Terra rolled her eyes and rushed Beast boy. Trying to anticipate her moves, the boy bent and moved to grab Terra's shoulder, and in response, Terra let him only to grab his arm and twist it along with her entire body around his own, lock her legs around his upper torso and slammed him into the ground in a hold.

With his arm bent at a horrible angle, Beast boy clenched his jaw and tried to get up with only the extremely limited use of his one half free arm.

"Give it up Gar."

"Ughhh...no..You wanted a workout!" He joked through pained grunting. Terra sighed.

"I can pop your shoulder out with zero effort right now. Give up."

"Ughhh!" He wiggled under her and attempted to jam the elbow of his half trapped arm into her but he could nearly move it.

"Do it! You won't!" He taunted back but his voice sounded more like he was asking her not to rather than egging her on.

"Oooh big tough Beast _man_ here." Terra applied just the tiniest bit of pressure and Beat boy bit his lip and whined.

"Ok! Ok, I give! Don't pop my arm out!" And with that Terra freed him. He stayed there for a moment catching his breath before he stood up.

"That was Krav Maga," Damien stated flatly as the group reassembled.

"Yeah...It's a little too brutal even for me so I try not to use it unless I have too." Terra responded while Kori removed her power limiter.

"Still, it was an impressive display. I wasn't aware you had hand-to-hand combat training." Kori attempted to side step the Slade topic but Terra's eyes lowered regardless.

"Yeah...another one of the good things I can take away from him…" she trailed off, her eyes meeting Raven's briefly.

The next half hour was spent with Damian and Dick giving Jeime, Garfield and Raven more in-depth breakdowns of flaws in how they approached each situation. It was a lesson in the technical side of hand to hand combat that each took seriously.

The next day was very much the same. Another large room to clean, then training. This time each titan paired off, with Terra on the teaching side now that the others were aware of how skilled she actually was.

Raven paired off with Damien, Garfield with Dick, and Terra with Jeime. The focus was less on a specific style and more about strengthening their grasp on the basics.

Tired and sore afterwards Terra and Raven begrudgingly returned to their cleaning and the rest of the week dragged on just like this except for a relatively boring bank robbery on Thursday.

Days later when the two were reading Terra had decided to voice something that had been on her mind for a little while.

"Hey what are your thoughts on Halloween?" Terra suddenly asked, a book on different minerals and chemicals found in different types of earth, open but laying face down on her stomach. She was spread flat on her back in a thick grey hoodie across Raven's perfectly made bed. Her arms thrown over her head and legs dangling off.

"...hmmm…" Raven half heard her, shamelessly engrossed in a fantasy novel she had picked up recently.

"Hey, Morticia addams! Halloween!" Terra reached over and flicked the page Raven was in the middle of turning and it flicked aggressively through the air, snapping Raven out of it.

"Sorry. What about Halloween?"

"How do you feel about it?"

"Uh...it's a day?"

"I mean like...do you like the spooky vibes and all that?"

"...kind of? 'Spooky' is sort of my day to day so…" Raven stated flatly, Terra snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Have you ever like, celebrated it?"

"If you mean trick or treating, then no." Raven closed her book and put it aside, folding her legs next to her so she could see Terra without having to peak over her knees.

"Not just that. Have you ever watched scary movies or gone to a haunted house or anything?"

"No."

"Same," Terra said with a sigh, then added. "Doesn't that kind of suck?"

"What do you mean?"

Terra put her book aside and rolled over onto her stomach.

"I mean that we missed so much kid stuff. As much as I say I'm not a kid, I've been thinking a lot about how adults always have stories and if I really am an adult-"

"- your not." Raven interrupted but Terra continued regardless.

"-then I realized that I only have...really shitty stories…"

Raven nodded, the train of thought made sense.

"And so do you and that really sucks ass. We're still teenagers, so while we have time, I want to make some good stories," Terra sighed and sat up, reached out, grabbed Raven's arm. Raven didn't flinch.

"Do you wanna be stupid normal kids on Halloween with me?" Terra asked, and Raven tried to ignore how much that sounded like a date but had this sudden urge to check.

"What about Garfield. He would love doing Halloween stuff with you, and Kori still goes on and on about never really learning how to carve a pumpkin." She offered and Terra lost a bit of the bright emotion she was practically glowing with, but only a little.

"Yeah doing stuff like pumpkin carving with everyone would be fun, and like decorating the tower maybe? But I wanted to do some of that stuff with just...us. You and me…" and there was the soft blush on her freckled cheeks.

Damn, it kind of was a date then wasn't it?

"Sure. I could use some good stories too."

"Yes! Do you want to go shopping for our costumes together?"

"Wait do you want to do the whole trick or treat thing?"

"Why not? If we were any older looking it probably wouldn't work. People don't want to give candy to teens half the time anyway." Terra explained.

"So we get costumes and then go out and ask for candy all night?" Raven tried to clarify as she stared at Terra in confusion.

"They're probably going to stop giving out candy once it gets really late so we can figure out what we want to do after when we get to it."

Raven could see the stomach aches and sugar highs already but in all honesty, it sounded like far more fun than it sounded like a pain.

"Sure."

"Hell yeah." Terra smiled brightly and grabbed her phone to look up stores. Rave's eyes fell on the grey hoodie she was wearing and she recognized it as hers. When did Terra even put her hoodie on?

A week had passed since Terra and Raven were freed from cleaning hell and the two had taken to the outdoors rather quickly. Terra had been going out on random little trips. Movies, shopping, and a few trips to the library, general things out in the city really. Often Garfield or Jeime or both went along as well and once, even Damian went out with her. She never stayed out late enough to get into trouble and she was extremely transparent about everything to help stem any suspicions. When Damian or Dick checked into any of her stories about her days out they could verify everything with ease.

Terra was even upfront about her temptation to go out to clubs and parties. Explaining she knew it was a cheap way to distract herself from her issues but one she realized was a trap for her.

"I'm the kind of girl that's just enough of a mess to fall into some heavier crap by mistake or drink the wrong drink or something." She explained to Dick one night.

"I'm sick of being a poster girl for damaged goods. I'm never going to let myself become a victim again." And that explanation had proven true day after day. And day after day Terra smiled more, opened up more, and learned more about herself.

It was easy for Raven to give her the space she needed but she had taken Kori's advice to heart and not allowed a void to grow between them. Instead Raven took the time alone she needed and when she felt a tug, that urge to see Terra again, she simply listened to it.

Reading together had become a normal thing. Sometimes, in either of their rooms (Terra was still the only person allowed in Raven's room), sometimes out in the garden, sometimes at the library and sometimes even huddled together in book stores while trying to choose something to buy. Terra focused mostly on self-help books like "overcoming trauma", "The survivor's guide to beating abuse" and "How to move beyond it" being just a few of the titles she had picked out while out with Raven.

Terra had asked Raven about the stones and crystals she made her charms with and seemed to take an interest in the spiritual side of crystals and alike. It was sweet, and a little flattering to watch Terra become curious about something Raven had spoken about or showed her briefly, and then watch that curiosity grow and drive her to explore and learn on her own.

It was just cold enough to make the sweaters necessary and this time Terra had managed to swipe Raven's black hoodie with the purple crow on the back. At least she gave the other one back clean and undamaged, but Raven made a mental note to ask why she kept taking the hoodies she had out. Terra was using her phone to navigate to the nearest pop-up Halloween store and Raven had suggested they stop for something to drink on their way. They rounded the corner to see a storefront completely decked out in Halloween decor.

"Wow. I don't think we could have missed this place even if we tried." Raven huffed as if to almost laugh as a store employee pulled a lever on a mechanical man in an electric chair to demonstrate how it thrashed, smoked and screamed for a couple and a small crowd gathered to watch it go off.

"Yeah geez. Do you think all the stuff out here does something like that freaky thing?" Terra asked as the two tried to walk around the crowd.

"Probably."

"Ew is that thing making that burnt meat smell?" Terra covered her face and Raven's nose crinkled.

"Yeah...that's...a little far." She commented as she took Terra's hand and tugged her inside and away from...all of that.

"Holy shit. Some people go way too hard on Halloween. Why do I feel like Damian might feel right at home here?" Terra half snorted as they made it inside.

Unfortunately being distracted by what was going on outside neither noticed the mat they had stepped on and a large robot spider launched itself at them with a loud hissing noise. Both girls screamed, and being the closest to it, Terra half jumped onto Raven, making Raven almost fall backward.

"FUCK!" Terra fumbled to get back any sense of dignity while Raven managed to get her balance back.

"God that sucked!" Raven sighed, then added. "I might have blown up something in the backroom by accident…" and as if on queue the pager system called for assistance in the back room.

"...Whoops…" Raven said flatly, looking up at the speakers.

"Pfft, they had it coming for scaring the shit out of us. I hate spiders." Terra snorted, resisting the urge to kick the stupid thing and took Raven's hand. Raven felt her stomach do a bit of a flip.

"So do you know what you wanna be?" Terra asked as they walked up and down the aisle with pictures of the costumes the store sold on models with the names of the costumes as well as item numbers. The place was absolutely huge and there were at least 7 rows of just full costumes, never mind the odds and ends aisles or the entire part of the store that seemed to be just for decorations and another for party and misc items. It seemed Terra had found some kind of Halloween superstore.

"A superhero." Raven's voice was deadpan and Terra looked at her confused.

"Wha...Like dressing as Batgirl or something? Wouldn't that be weird?"

"That was a joke." Raven cracked a small grin and Terra rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Ok, you got me o' Queen of humour."

"There is...a lot here…" Raven sighed as her eyes browsed over rows and rows of overly sexualized women in the poorest excuses for costumes. "Wait, why are all of these horrible?"

That got Terra's attention and she turned away from an employee who passed them by while helping a woman who seemed to have a very realistic knife sticking out of his head, and looked at Raven, then at the wall of pictures.

"What do you mean?"

"They're not even costumes."

"I'm...not following." Terra raised a brow and Raven sighed.

"Look, I'll show you." she pointed at one slightly above them. "What's that one called?"

"Um...Midnight werewolf?"

"Now look." Raven tugged her along to the men's aisles and found the same costume in men's.

"THIS is a werewolf. "

Terra smiled and looked at Raven with a teasing glance.

"Did you JUST learn about how sexist Halloween costumes are, like right now?" She asked with a bit of a smug tone. Raven frowned and rolled her eyes.

"I guess I did yeah…"

"Aww. You're adorable." Terra teased and Raven's flushed half flattered and half embarrassed.

"...Don't tell me you're going to wear one of those…" Raven asked, sounding like an exhaust old lady for a moment, making Terra laugh again.

"Maybe~" Terra winked and Raven's head fell into her hands with a sigh. Terra assumed she was being a bother and was enjoying teasing Raven but Raven was trying to make her brain stop picturing Terra in all the stupid costumes she had seen already.

"Maybe this was a mistake…" Raven muttered through her hands and Terra instantly regretted her teasing.

"Don't get cold feet on me now. I thought you wanted to be a superhero? Aren't superheroes valiant and brave?" Terra giggled.

"Let's just find costumes." Raven sighed and started to walk back toward the women's section. Terra followed after her.

The two browsed through the entire women's section twice and Terra only noticed Raven actually consider maybe two costumes. She had a few in mind but after Raven's earlier reaction she had started to think about what running around dressed like that all night might be like, how cold it would get, unwanted attention that might interrupt their night and more random issues. This narrowed her choices down quite a bit.

"Raven your not suppose to pick something you would normally wear." Terra smiled and lightly tease as Raven was about to grab an 'Adult Victorian Vampiress' costume. Raven looked at her confused, then pouted.

"I wouldn't wear this normally."

"I know but I mean...come on _look_ at it, Raven." Terra nodded at the picture and it did look like just a hyper fancy version of something Raven MIGHT wear if given the chance.

"Ok, I get your point," Raven admitted with a sigh and pointed at another lower on the wall.

"I wouldn't mind something like that. A creepy haunted scarecrow that's covered a lot more than most of the other costumes." It was one she had been seriously looking at a moment ago.

"Oh yeah, that would look cool."

"What are you thinking of getting?"

"That Pirate queen one is pretty awesome actually. I was thinking of grabbing that and then one of those prop swords and a prop flintlock." Terra pointed it out and Raven looked between the picture and Terra.

"You would make a really good pirate. Maybe get a hat if it doesn't come with one." Raven suggested. Terra took her hand again and turned toward the back of the section.

"Wait don't we need to grab the tags for the item numbers?"

"I remember them."

At the fitting rooms, Terra mentioned the item numbers to a lady who looked like a far too realistic Zombie. A little girl who was passing by with her parents started crying. Raven let her eyes wander around the store and from where she stood she could see through a few rows of items into the decoration section. Her eyes fell straight on to an animatronic demonic child she imagined was far more expensive then it should be, but something about its eyes struck her. The stone on her forehead blinked and in an instant, the back of her mind was awash with flashbacks of hell, of the sounds, the dead horrible eyes of the things that lived there. The smells, the-

"Here you are, miss." The change room attendant handed Raven a few plastic packages containing different sizes of the costume she wanted. Snapping out of it, Raven calmly took the packages from the Zombie woman with a passing. "Your makeup is very good, but your eyes give you away."

Terra looked between Raven and the employee and offered a shrug to the confused change room zombie. Wordlessly she took her costumes from the confused employee and tried her's on in a room across from the one Raven was in.

After picking the sizes they wanted the two headed to the other section to grab Terra's props. Noticing how quiet Raven was Terra quietly reached out to take her hand but paused. She hadn't needed to ask to hold hands since the first few times but something seemed to have put Raven in a bad mood and Terra didn't want to risk making it worse.

"Can I hold your hand?" Terra asked quietly, without actually turning to meet Raven's eyes. The dark-haired titan's answer was her cool hand slipping into Terra's. Calloused fingers quickly closed over pale ones and Terra didn't need to be an empath to see Raven loosen up a little.

"I bet you'd look super creepy in a fun way if we got you this makeup kit here." Terra quickly pointed out, grabbing said makeup kit and showing Raven.

"Hm?"

"Well your costume comes with like a ripped sack kind of thing that your face is supposed to show out of but I think it would look awesome if we made you up like a dead girl scarecrow thing. " Terra suggested.

"I can make my skin red and have four glowing red eyes pretty much whenever I want," Raven stated flatly and Terra pouted at her.

"Hey, I said I wanted to do this like normal kids."

"Oh, right." Raven took a larger breath, something to help ground her until she could properly center herself. Being a normal kid felt like such a foreign concept, but when she thought back on her conversation with Terra about doing this she recalled how happy the idea made Terra, how happy the idea made _her_ even if it seemed a little childish. Letting her father ruin this little almost-a-date seemed wrong. It was letting him win and that made Raven stand up straighter and want to be happy not just for her and Terra's sake but to spite him.

"Yeah, even if it's just for a night." Raven agreed again. Curiously she took the makeup kit and looked it over.

"I don't know how to use this stuff." She admitted and Terra gave her hand a little squeeze.

"I do. If you're ok with it I'd love to do your makeup." She offered and that made Raven smile, even if it was a little one.

"I'd like that."

After paying the two left the store to walk back to the tower, the crowds still gathering outside for the show, the burnt meat smell made them both cover their faces. The rest of the walk back to the tower was pleasant, and conversation sparse but not necessarily needed. Terra was content with her fingers interlocked in Raven's and Raven couldn't stop thinking about what kissing the blond would be like. By the time they got back, Terra reluctantly let go of Raven's hand so the empath could get in some meditation but gave Raven a little hug before parting (with Raven's permission).

Once in her room, Raven let out a deep sigh and ran her hand through her hair.

"Crap…" Her quiet voice seemed so loud in the silent room. She thought back to the conversation she had with Terra about learning who one really was. For the first time, that day Raven pulled her phone out of her pocket, unlocked it, found the link Terra had messaged her what felt like ages ago and began reading.

Halloween arrived and the tower was decorated in the most haphazard way with basically a small army of jack-o-lanterns set out around the tower, a few on the roof and a few in the common room. Once Terra had asked Kori if they could carve pumpkins it had become a massive group event and a few of the titans ended up going a little overboard. (Kori)

Raven made her way to Terra's room late-afternoon as per Terra's text with her costume and makeup kit in hand. Raven would be lying to herself is she tried to claim she wasn't looking forward to this, but the idea of Terra doing her makeup was something that made her feel a little uneasy. Maybe it was knowing that Terra was going to have to be touching her face a lot, she wasn't entirely sure.

With a small sigh, Raven knocked on Terra's door, she could hear the band she had introduced Terra to playing in the background at a reasonable volume. There was a movement behind the door, the music got quieter and Terra opened the door with an undercut, three new rings in her left ear and dark lipstick on. Raven's eyes widened in surprise and quickly darted down to Terra's lips. As if she weren't already tempted, now they were almost black purple and perfectly highlighted against Terra's skin.

"Hey!" Terra smiled and Raven stood there silent for a moment. Confused Terra felt a little self-conscious suddenly and her little smile fell.

"Hey…" Raven quickly answered and stepped inside trying not to make it obvious that she was staring. As stereotypical as it was the more punk look was absolutely driving Raven up the wall and she had to focus on her breathing to calm down. It was almost annoying how attractive Terra was like this and Raven was hoping the whole thing with the costumes and trick or treating would distract her from how badly that lipstick made her want to kiss her, or how badly she wanted to play with Terra's short undercut hair.

"So did you want to do your makeup before you change or are you worried that putting on the costume will rub it off?" Terra asked as she removed her costume from the plastic. Raven placed her costume (still in the plastic) on Terra's bad and stared at the floor while pulling a hair tie from her pocket.

"Makeup first. The neck of the costume is wide enough that it shouldn't be a problem." She explained while tying her short hair back. It was just long enough that Raven could put the front half back into a very short ponytail, the shorter back half of her hair still hung free. When she looked up Terra was staring at her and Raven felt suddenly self-conscious.

"…What?"

"Nothing. I've just never seen you with your hair like that…I can see more of your face like this and you're just…really pretty." Terra trailed off and quickly became very interested in getting the wrinkles out of her costume. Raven felt her stomach flip and took a breath. The stone on her head flashed but Trigun was very easily ignored.

"…um. Thanks. You uh…" Raven sighed, annoyed at herself. "Screw it. You look amazing and I can't stop staring at you." She suddenly admitted making Terra snap her attention to Raven, her cheeks dark.

"Wh-Really?"

"Yes, it's…distracting…Punk looks incredible on you." Raven admitted with another sigh, but this one was of relief. It felt good to just say it.

"Th-thanks…" Terra was an obviously flustered mess, fussing with the packaging of the makeup kit unnecessarily. It was clearly very easy to open, but it seemed Terra needed a solid minute just to rip some plastic wrapping open.

Raven sat on Terra's bed, the air was sort of awkward and she wished she had more social experience so she could help relax the atmosphere. She wasn't entirely sure what it was, but there seemed to be a strange sort of tension forming between them and Raven didn't like it.

"So where did you learn to use this stuff?" She tried to lighten things with a normal conversation. Terra sat on her bed across from Raven and seemed determined to get to business even though she was still a little flushed.

"Mostly youtube and messing around on my own face. I learned the hard way that too much blush is never as sexy as you think." A flash of something she had done while under Slade's thumb flashed in her mind but she quickly sighed, and let it go for now. Raven caught the subtle shift in Terra and even thought the earthmover seemed to have it under control she thought helping couldn't hurt. Maybe a distraction? Raven placed leaned in a little closer, legs crossed and hands resting on her own legs.

"Should I close my eyes or something?" She asked as Terra prepped what was basically the base face pounder.

"Yeah but only for a sec."

Terra used primer spray she had gotten herself for just regular makeup and put the foundation on. Not much was needed given how pale Raven was already, but just a little more and she looked….well dead. Raven felt odd having someone touch her face especially with her eyes closed but unlike most other times being touched like this didn't seem to trigger anything. Terra was so gentle and there was something sweet in the way her thumb and index finger held her chin to keep her head tilted just right.

"Great, you can open them now," Terra instructed. Raven did and she felt Terr'as thumb and index finger leave her chin. Curious she looked down to watch Terra messing with something that looked like a pencil and another thing that looked like a brush of some kind that came out of a black container. She suddenly wished she knew more about makeup.

"Ok do you want me to do your eyes next or your lips?" Terra inquired, seeming to be more focused than before.

"Uh… eyes I guess." Raven's brow creased a little, having something that close to her eyes seemed unpleasant.

"Ok. This might be a little weird but just do what I say alright?" Terra instructed and Raven nodded.

Terra leaned in and with the pencil-like thing she instructed Raven to look up and try not to blink. Raven did her best, blinking a few times but it ended up ok. Terra then had Raven close her eyes and something soft brushed over her eyelids. The entire experience so far felt strangely nice, which surprised Raven. Just the concept of someone touching her face a lot sounded so awkward but Terra was so gentle about it all.

"You can open your eyes now."

Raven did and the first thing she saw was Terra smiling.

"Damn."

"What?"

"I know your not a doctor but try to have some patience. We're almost done." Terra quickly responded and Raven smiled.

"You've been hanging around Gar to much."

"Pfft, he wishes." Terra huffed as she grabbed the only makeup...thing Raven recognized, lipstick.

"Wait, I didn't see any lipstick in the kit."

"Oh yeah, this is one of mine. I ordered it a little while ago and thought dark grey sounded interesting but after I put it on I realized that it doesn't work with my skin tone." Terra explained as she leaned in again. Raven flushed a little, Terra had used this before, it had touched her lips. Raven's eyes darted down and stared at Terra's dark lips while she was focused on getting the lipstick on Raven. The feeling of something gliding across her lips while she couldn't look away from Terra's made Raven's stomach flutter and her hands feel clammy.

"Ok done. Close your eyes again, I have sealing spray so you won't have to worry about touching anything up later." Terra explained and Raven obeyed.

"Ok, now you can see. Here." Terra handed Raven a small pocket mirror and Raven was quite impressed. She had been fairly sure of Terra's abilities but she honestly did better then Raven had been expecting. She actually looked a little unnerving, Her eyes looked sunken in and Terra had done something to make her cheeks look equally sunken in yet her cheekbones seemed to pop far more than normal. It was a big enough change to make Raven speechless for a moment.

"Whatever video's you've been watching were worth it. This is incredible." Raven handed back the mirror and got off the bed, grabbing her costume's packaging.

"Thanks. Honestly, it turned out better than I thought." Terra admitted, as she too got off of her bed.

Given how thin the costumes were both girls put them on over their clothes. In Raven's case her costume had a lot of holes with fake hay sticking out of them and in Terra's the pirate costume didn't come with pants at all and the shirt was basically as thin as a sheet even with the vest and jacket over it.

Once they were done the two grabbed a pillowcase each and headed out of Terra's room. It was still a little early but of course, Kori wanted pictures like a mom, and it took time to get to the city from the tower. (Terra didn't want Raven to teleport them.)

By the time the two were actually in the city it was dark out and the streets of the residential areas were alive with creepy little monsters and ghouls running about with their families. Teens and adults in costumes walking to parties or events, the city was like Halloween scenes in movies. Raven had to admit it was nice to be around so much happiness and excitement for things people usually stayed away from her for.

Right as the two of them started going to houses for their own candy they passed a few kids no older than ten and a little girl smiled and said that she looked "Scary as all heckie!" But her tone was like she was calling Raven beautiful. She couldn't help but smile back.

Terra's warning about some people being weird when they saw teens at their door was not unwarranted and the two did run into a few adults that gave them grief but overall they had a good haul and by 10 most kids were getting off the streets or were already home and most houses were putting their lights out. There were still teens and young adults going to and from parties and even a couple that seemed a little drunk.

Terra held her bag up, full and proud and gave it a satisfying shake.

"This was great," Terra confirmed

"What should we do now?" Raven pondered as she watched the people around them.

"Hm, I'm not ready to go back yet," Terra stated as she thought.

"Do you want to crash one of the parties nearby?" Raven suggested with a bit of mischief in her voice.

"Wait, for real?" Terra questioned, brows raised in surprise.

"Why not? No drinking obviously. We just walk in, borrow some cans of soda and maybe some food and have fun."

"You're serious."

"On the condition that we stay together and absolutely do not drink a single thing that we didn't open and once it is open we don't let go of it or take our eyes off of it until it's finished," Raven added.

"Ok deal. But what about the bags of candy? Wait can you teleport them into my room?" Terra begged and Raven smiled the biggest teasing grin Terra had ever seen on her.

"I thought this was a 'no powers' night?"

"Argh, please?"

Raven laughed but found a spot between two houses where she wouldn't be seen and quickly darted over. Once freed of their stuffed pillowcases, she quickly returned to Terra's side and the two walked down the street hand in hand until they found a house with the door open and music blasting out into the night. People poured in and out freely and a few stood outside talking with drinks in hand. Most seemed to be older teens, maybe a few college-aged from what Raven could tell.

"Hot damn," Terra exclaimed at a shirtless, absolutely ripped young guy with a wolf mask and tail walked out onto the porch. He seemed to be looking for someone, turned and lifted the mask to makeout with an equally ripped guy in a Captain America costume.

"Oh shit! Get it wolfman!" Terra yelled over the music as they headed in and he gave her a thumbs-up without even pausing his makeout session. It was a little much for Raven but the loud laughter from Terra made it worth it.

The house was completely alive with young people dancing, drinking, talking, eating and making out. Raven quickly decided this wasn't really her thing but Terra was tugging her along and laughing and she didn't have it in her to ruin that.

What followed was the most trash food Raven had ever eaten in one sitting and far too much soda but Terra had kept to the rules easily and even stood outside of the washroom to wait for Raven and insisted on Raven waiting for her. It was heartwarming to see Terra just as worried someone may try something on Raven as the half-demon was worried about her. At some point, Raven had taken the sack mask thing off and put it down somewhere and it went missing entirely and Terra had lost her prop flintlock. Neither really cared.

"Dance with me." Terra suddenly said, trying to tug Raven into a more open room. Raven flushed, she danced when they had parties at the tower but that was among friends.

"I um...I don't know how I feel about dancing in public."

"Come on Raven. There are so many people here doing their own thing. No one's going to pay any attention to us." Terra pleaded and Raven took a breath. She was right, no one had really even spoken to them since they invited themselves.

"Alright."

"YES!"

Terra dragged her into what was probably the living room and just started to cut loose. It took Raven a little longer to really get into it but Terra's enthusiasm was infectious and about a song in Raven was just as lost in the music as Terra. Maybe it was the atmosphere, maybe it was just riding the high of the night but when the song, of course, changed to a slower one Raven was feeling brave.

She slipped her hands around the back of Terra's neck and moved in closer. Instantly confused and flustered Terra froze, hands hovering mid-air, cheeks a soft pink.

"Take the lead." Raven's voice was a little high but steady.

Terra nodded and nervously placed her hands on Raven's waist and started moving. Raven followed and her eyes locked with Terra's. The two stayed like that, following the music quietly for a few seconds, Terra blushing a little darker as time went on and Raven's eyes darting down to her lips.

"U-um…"Terra started to try and say anything, just something. "This has probably been the most fun I've had like...ever." She forced out and her eyes flicked between Raven's and something random behind her. Raven smiled and fought the fluttering in her stomach and pounding in her chest. This wasn't a moment that she'd get easily again.

"Same. Thanks for asking me out tonight." and before Terra could say anything else Raven leaned in and rested her head on Terra's shoulder, now barely moving to the music and basically holding the taller girl. Terra sighed wistfully and after a second's hesitation, she wrapped her around Raven and held her close for the rest of the song.

Both mutually decided to head home shortly after the slow song moment. Content and a little love-struck they left again hand in hand but with stomachs full of butterflies and cheap food


End file.
